Contents

Foreword
A Letter for You

iii
v

Unit I
Chapter 1

Power sharing

Chapter 2

Federalism

13

Unit II
Chapter 3

Democracy and Diversity

29

Chapter 4

Gender, Religion and Caste

39

Unit III
Chapter 5

Popular Struggles and Movements

57

Chapter 6

Political Parties

71

Unit IV
Chapter 7

Outcomes of Democracy

89

Chapter 8

Challenges to Democracy

101


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P
1

I have a simple
equation in mind.
Sharing power =
dividing power =
weakening the
country. Why do we
start by talking of
this?

Belgium is a small country in Europe,

smaller in area than the state of
Haryana. It has borders with
Netherlands, France and Germany. It
has a population of a little over one
crore, about half the population of
Haryana. The ETHNIC composition of
this small country is very complex. Of
the countrys total population, 59 per
cent lives in the Flemish region and
speaks Dutch language. Another 40 per
cent people live in the Wallonia region
and speak French. Remaining 1 per cent
of the Belgians speak German. In the
capital city Brussels, 80 per cent people
speak French while 20 per cent are
Dutch-speaking.
The minority French-speaking
community was relatively rich and
powerful. This was resented by the
Dutch-speaking community who got
the benefit of economic development

and education much later. This led to

tensions between the Dutch-speaking
and French-speaking communities
during the 1950s and 1960s. The
tension between the two communities
was more acute in Brussels. Brussels
presented a special problem: the
Dutch-speaking people constituted a
majority in the country, but a minority
in the capital.
Let us compare this to the situation
in another country. Sri Lanka is an
island nation, just a few kilometres off
the southern coast of Tamil Nadu. It
has about 2 crore people, about the
same as in Haryana. Like other nations
in the South Asia region, Sri Lanka has
a diverse population. The major social
groups are the Sinhala-speakers (74 per
cent) and the Tamil-speakers (18 per
cent). Among Tamils there are two subgroups. Tamil natives of the country

Ethnic: A social
division based on
shared culture. People
belonging to the same
ethnic group believe in
their common descent
because of similarities
of physical type or of
culture or both. They
need not always have
the same religion or
nationality.

Wikipedia

Communities
and
regions of
Belgium

Brussels-Capital Region
Walloon (French-speaking)
Flemish (Dutch-speaking)
German-speaking

Look at the maps of Belgium and Sri Lanka. In which

region do you find concentration of different
communities?

are called Sri Lankan Tamils (13 per

cent). The rest, whose forefathers came
from India as plantation workers during
colonial period, are called Indian
Tamils. As you can see from the map,
Sri Lankan Tamils are concentrated in
the north and east of the country. Most
of the Sinhala-speaking people are
Buddhist, while most of the Tamils are
Hindus or Muslims. There are about 7
per cent Christians, who are both Tamil
and Sinhala.
Just imagine what could happen
in situations like this. In Belgium, the

Dutch community could take

advantage of its numeric majority and
force its will on the French and
German-speaking population. This
would push the conflict among
communities further. This could lead
to a very messy partition of the
country; both the sides would claim
control over Brussels. In Sri Lanka, the
Sinhala community enjoyed an even
bigger majority and could impose its
will on the entire country. Now, let us
look at what happened in both these
countries.

Sri Lanka emerged as an independent
country in 1948. The leaders of the
Sinhala community sought to secure
dominance over government by virtue
of their majority. As a result, the
democratically elected government
adopted a series of MAJORITARIAN
measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.
In 1956, an Act was passed to
recognise Sinhala as the only official
language, thus disregarding Tamil. The
governments followed preferential
policies that favoured Sinhala
applicants for university positions and
government jobs. A new constitution
stipulated that the state shall protect
and foster Buddhism.
All these government measures,
coming one after the other, gradually
increased the feeling of alienation
among the Sri Lankan Tamils. They felt
that none of the major political parties
led by the Buddhist Sinhala leaders
were sensitive to their language and
culture. They felt that the constitution

and government policies denied them

equal political rights, discriminated
against them in getting jobs and other
opportunities and ignored their
interests. As a result, the relations

Ethnic Communities
of Sri Lanka
Sinhalese
Sri Lankan Tamil
Indian Tamil
Muslim

Majoritarianism: A
belief that the majority
community should be
able to rule a country in
whichever way it wants,
by disregarding the
wishes and needs of the
minority.

P
3

What s wrong if
t he m aj orit y
com m unit y
rules? I f Sinhalas
dont rule in Sri
Lanka, where
else will t hey
rule?

between the Sinhala and Tamil

communities strained over time.
The Sri Lankan Tamils launched
parties and struggles for the recognition
of Tamil as an official language, for
regional autonomy and equality of
opportunity in securing education and
jobs. But their demand for more
autonomy to provinces populated by
the Tamils was repeatedly denied. By
1980s several political organisations
were formed demanding an
independent Tamil Eelam (state) in
northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

The distrust between the two

communities turned into widespread
conflict. It soon turned into a CIVIL WAR.
As a result thousands of people of both
the communities have been killed. Many
families were forced to leave the country
as refugees and many more lost their
livelihoods. You have read (Chapter 1
of Economics textbook, Class X) about
Sri Lankas excellent record of economic
development, education and health. But
the civil war has caused a terrible setback
to the social, cultural and economic life
of the country.

Civil war: A violent

conflict between
opposing groups within
a country that becomes
so intense that it appears
like a war.

The Belgian leaders took a different

path. They recognised the existence of
regional differences and cultural
diversities. Between 1970 and 1993,
they amended their constitution four
times so as to work out an arrangement
that would enable everyone to live
together within the same country. The
arrangement they worked out is
different from any other country and
is very innovative. Here are some of
the elements of the Belgian model:

Constitution prescribes that the

number of Dutch and French-speaking
ministers shall be equal in the central
government. Some special laws require
the support of majority of members
from each linguistic group. Thus, no

single community can make decisions

unilaterally.

Many powers of the central

government have been given to state
governments of the two regions of the
country. The state governments are not
subordinate to the Central Government.

Brussels has a separate government

in which both the communities have
equal representation. The Frenchspeaking people accepted equal
representation in Brussels because the
Dutch-speaking community has
accepted equal representation in the
Central Government.

What kind of a solut ion is

t his? I am glad our
Const it ut ion does not say
which m inist er will com e from
which com m unit y.

Wikipedia

The photograph here is of a street

address in Belgium. You will notice that
place names and directions in two
languages French and Dutch.

Apart from the Central and

the State Government, there is a
third kind of government. This
community government is elected by
people belonging to one language
community Dutch, French and
German-speaking no matter where
they live. This government has the
power regarding cultural, educational
and language-related issues.
You might find the Belgian model
very complicated. It indeed is very
complicated, even for people living in
Belgium. But these arrangements have
worked well so far. They helped to
avoid civic strife between the two
major communities and a possible
division of the country on linguistic
lines. When many countries of Europe
came together to form the European

European Union Parliament in Belgium

Union, Brussels was chosen as its

headquarters.

Read any newspaper for one week and m ake clippings of

news relat ed t o ongoing conflict s or wars. A group of five
st udent s could pool t heir clippings t oget her and do t he following:
Classify t hese conflict s by t heir locat ion ( your st at e, I ndia,
out side I ndia) .
Find out t he cause of each of t hese conflict s. How m any of
t hese are relat ed t o power sharing disput es?
Which of t hese conflict s could be resolved by working out power
sharing arrangem ent s?

What do we learn from these two stories

of Belgium and Sri Lanka? Both are
democracies. Yet, they dealt with the
question of power sharing differently.
In Belgium, the leaders have realised
that the unity of the country is possible
only by respecting the feelings and
interests of different communities and

regions. Such a realisation resulted in

mutually acceptable arrangements for
sharing power. Sri Lanka shows us a
contrasting example. It shows us that
if a majority community wants to force
its dominance over others and refuses
to share power, it can undermine the
unity of the country.

So you are
saying t hat
sharing of power
m akes us m ore
powerful. Sounds
odd! Let m e
t hink.

P
5

 Tab - The Calgary Sun, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Why power sharing is desirable?

Thus, two different sets of reasons can
be given in favour of power sharing.
Firstly, power sharing is good because
it helps to reduce the possibility of
conflict between social groups. Since
social conflict often leads to violence
and political instability, power sharing
is a good way to ensure the stability of
political order. Imposing the will of
majority community over others may
look like an attractive option in the
short run, but in the long run it
undermines the unity of the nation.

The cartoon at the left refers to the

problems of running the Germanys grand
coalition government that include the two
major parties of the country, namely the
Christian Democratic Union and the
Social Democratic Party. The two parties
are historically rivals to each other. They
have to form a coalition government
because neither of them got clear majority
of seats on their own in the 2005
elections. They take divergent positions
on several policy matters, but still jointly
run the government.

Tyranny of the majority is not just

oppressive for the minority; it often
brings ruin to the majority as well.
There is a second, deeper reason
why power sharing is good for
democracies. Power sharing is the very
spirit of democracy. A democratic rule
involves sharing power with those
affected by its exercise, and who have
to live with its effects. People have a
right to be consulted on how they are
to be governed. A legitimate
government is one where citizens,
through participation, acquire a stake
in the system.
Let us call the first set of reasons
PRUDENTIAL and the second moral. While
prudential reasons stress that power
sharing will bring out better outcomes,
moral reasons emphasises the very act
of power sharing as valuable.

Prudential: Based on
prudence, or on careful
calculation of gains and
losses. Prudential decisions
are usually contrasted with
those decisions based
purely on moral
considerations.

Annet t e st udies in a Dut ch m edium school in t he

nort hern region of Belgium . Many French- speaking st udent s in
her school want t he m edium of inst ruct ion t o be French. Selvi
st udies in a school in t he nort hern region of Sri Lanka. All t he
st udent s in her school are Tam il- speaking and t hey want t he
m edium of inst ruct ion t o be Tam il.
I f t he parent s of Annet t e and Selvi were t o approach
respect ive governm ent s t o realise t he desire of t he child
who is m ore likely t o succeed? And why?

Khalils
dilemma

As usual, Vikram s was driving t he m ot orbike under a vow

of silence and Vet al was t he pillion rider. As usual, Vet al
st art ed t elling Vikram a st ory t o keep him awake while
driving. This t im e t he st ory went as follows:

I n t he cit y of Beir ut t her e lived a m an called Khalil. His par ent s

cam e fr om differ ent com m unit ies. His fat her was an Or t hodox Chr ist ian and m ot her a
Sunni Muslim . This was not so uncom m on in t his m oder n, cosm opolit an cit y. People
fr om var ious com m unit ies t hat lived in Lebanon cam e t o live in it s capit al, Beir ut . They
lived t oget her, int er m ingled, yet fought a bit t er civ il war am ong t hem selves. One of
Khalils uncles w as k illed in t hat war.
At t he end of t his civil war, Lebanons leaders cam e t oget her and agreed t o som e basic
rules for power sharing am ong different com m unit ies. As per t hese rules t he count rys
President m ust belong t o t he Maronit e sect of Cat holic Christ ians. The Prim e Minist er
m ust be from t he Sunni Muslim com m unit y. The post of Deput y Prim e Minist er is fixed for
Ort hodox Christ ian sect and t hat of t he Speaker for Shia Muslim . Under t his pact , t he
Christ ians agreed not t o seek French prot ect ion and t he Muslim agreed not t o seek
unificat ion wit h t he neighbouring st at e of Syria.When t he Christ ians and Muslim s cam e t o
t his agreem ent , t hey were nearly equal in populat ion. Bot h sides have cont inued t o
respect t his agreem ent t hough now t he Muslim s are in clear m aj orit y.
Khalil does not like t his sy st em one bit . He is a popular m an w it h polit ical am bit ion. But
under t he pr esent sy st em t he t op posit ion is out of his r each bar r ed fr om him . He does
not pract ice eit her his fat her s or his m ot her s r eligion and does not w ish t o be k now n
by eit her. He cannot under st and w hy Lebanon cant be like any ot her nor m al
dem ocracy. Just hold an elect ion, allow ever yone t o cont est and w hoever w ins
m ax im um vot es becom es t he pr esident , no m at t er w hich com m unit y he com es fr om .
Why cant w e do t hat , like in ot her dem ocracies of t he w or ld? he ask s. His elder s, w ho
have seen t he bloodshed of t he civ il war, t ell him t hat t he pr esent sy st em is t he best
guarant ee for peace
The st ory was not finished, but t hey had reached t he TV
t ower where t hey st opped every day. Vet al
wrapped up quickly and posed his
cust om ary quest ion t o Vikram : I f you had
t he power t o rewrit e t he rules in Lebanon,
what would you do? Would you adopt t he
regular rules followed everywhere, as Khalil
suggest s? Or st ick t o t he old rules? Or do

som et hing else? Vet al did not forget t o

rem ind Vikram of t heir basic pact : I f you

have an answer in m ind and yet do not speak

up, your m obike will freeze, and so

will you!
Ca n you h e lp poor Vik r a m in a n sw e r in g Ve t a l?


The idea of power sharing has
emerged in opposition to the notions
of undivided political power. For a
long time it was believed that all power
of a government must reside in one
person or group of persons located
at one place. It was felt that if the
power to decide is dispersed, it would
not be possible to take quick decisions
and to enforce them. But these
notions have changed with the
emergence of democracy. One basic
principle of democracy is that people
are the source of all political power.
In a democracy, people rule
themselves through institutions of
self-governance. In a good democratic
government, due respect is given to
diverse groups and views that exist in
a society. Everyone has a voice in the
shaping of public policies. Therefore,
it follows that in a democracy political

Olle Johansson - Sweden, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Reigning Reins

Recently some new laws were made in Russia giving more powers to
its president. During the same time the US president visited Russia.
What, according to this cartoon, is the relationship between democracy
and concentration of power? Can you think of some other examples to
illustrate the point being made here?

power should be distributed among

as many citizens as possible.
In modern democracies, power
sharing arrangements can take many
forms. Let us look at some of the most
common arrangements that we have
or will come across.
1 Power is shared among different
organs of government, such as the
legislature, executive and judiciary. Let
us call this horizontal distribution of
power because it allows different organs
of government placed at the same level
to exercise different powers. Such a
separation ensures that none of the
organs can exercise unlimited power.
Each organ checks the others. This
results in a balance of power among
various institutions. Last year we studied
that in a democracy, even though
ministers and government officials
exercise power, they are responsible to
the Parliament or State Assemblies.
Similarly, although judges are appointed
by the executive, they can check the
functioning of executive or laws made
by the legislatures. This arrangement is
called a system of checks and balances.
2 Power can be shared among
governments at different levels a
general government for the entire
country and governments at the
provincial or regional level. Such a
general government for the entire
country is usually called federal
government. In India, we refer to it
as the Central or Union Government.
The governments at the provincial or
regional level are called by different
names in different countries. In India,

we call them State Governments. This

system is not followed in all countries.
There are many countries where there
are no provincial or state
governments. But in those countries
like ours, where there are different
levels of gover nments, the
constitution clearly lays down the
powers of different levels of
government. This is what they did in
Belgium, but was refused in Sri Lanka.
This is called federal division of
power. The same principle can be
extended to levels of government
lower than the State government, such
as the municipality and panchayat. Let
us call division of powers involving
higher and lower levels of
government vertical division of
power. We shall study these at some
length in the next chapter.
3 Power may also be shared among
different social groups, such as the
religious and linguistic groups.
Community government in Belgium
is a good example of this arrangement.
In some countries there are
constitutional and legal arrangements
whereby socially weaker sections and
women are represented in the
legislatures and administration. Last
year we studied the system of reserved
constituencies in assemblies and the
parliament of our country. This type
of arrangement is meant to give space
in the government and administration
to diverse social groups who otherwise

would feel alienated from the

government. This method is used to
give minority communities a fair share
in power. In Chapter 3, we shall look
at various ways of accommodating
social diversities.
4 Power sharing arrangements can
also be seen in the way political
parties, pressure groups and
movements control or influence those
in power. In a democracy, the citizens
must have freedom to choose among
various contenders for power. In
contemporary democracies this takes
the form of competition among
different parties. Such competition
ensures that power does not remain in
one hand. In the long run power is
shared among different political parties
that represent different ideologies and
social groups. Sometimes this kind of
sharing can be direct, when two or
more parties form an alliance to
contest elections. If their alliance is
elected, they for m a coalition
government and thus share power. In
a democracy, we find interest groups
such as those of traders, businessmen,
industrialists, farmers and industrial
workers. They also will have a share in
governmental power, either through
participation in governmental
committees or bringing influence on
the decision making process. In
Chapter 4, we shall study the working
of political parties, pressure groups and
social movements.

I n m y school, t he
class m onit or
changes every
m ont h. I s t hat
what you call a
power sharing
arrangem ent ?

Here are som e exam ples of power sharing. Which of t he four t ypes of power
sharing do t hese represent ? Who is sharing power wit h whom ?
The Bom bay High Court ordered t he Maharasht ra st at e governm ent t o im m ediat ely
t ake act ion and im prove living condit ions for t he 2,000- odd children at seven
childrens hom es in Mum bai.
The governm ent of Ont ario st at e in Canada has agreed t o a land claim set t lem ent wit h
t he aboriginal com m unit y. The Minist er responsible for Nat ive Affairs announced t hat
t he governm ent will work wit h aboriginal people in a spirit of m ut ual respect and
co- operat ion.
Russias t wo influent ial polit ical part ies, t he Union of Right Forces and t he Liberal
Yabloko Movem ent , agreed t o unit e t heir organisat ions int o a st rong right- wing
coalit ion. They propose t o have a com m on list of candidat es in t he next
parliam ent ary elect ions.
The finance m inist ers of various st at es in Nigeria got t oget her and dem anded t hat
t he federal governm ent declare it s sources of incom e. They also want ed t o know t he
form ula by which t he revenue is dist ribut ed t o various st at e governm ent s.

1.

What are t he different form s of power sharing in m odern

dem ocracies? Give an exam ple of each of t hese.

2.

St at e one prudent ial reason and one m oral reason for power
sharing wit h an exam ple from t he I ndian cont ext .

3.

Aft er reading t his chapt er, t hree st udent s drew different

conclusions. Which of t hese do you agree wit h and why? Give
your reasons in about 50 words.
Thom m an - Power sharing is necessary only in societ ies which
have religiousm , linguist ic or et hnic divisions.
Mat hayi Power sharing is suit able only for big count ries t hat
have regional divisions.
Ouseph Every societ y needs som e form of power sharing even
if it is sm all or does not have social divisions.

4.

The Mayor of Mercht em , a t own near Brussels in Belgium , has

defended a ban on speaking French in t he t owns schools. He
said t hat t he ban would help all non- Dut ch speakers int egrat e
in t his Flem ish t own. Do you t hink t hat t his m easure is in
keeping wit h t he spirit of Belgium s power sharing
arrangem ent s? Give your reasons in about 50 words.

10

5.

Read t he following passage and pick out any one of t he

prudent ial reasons for power sharing offered in t his.
We need t o give m ore power t o t he panchayat s t o realise t he
dream of Mahat m a Gandhi and t he hopes of t he m akers of our
Const it ut ion. Panchayat i Raj est ablishes t rue dem ocracy. I t
rest ores power t o t he only place where power belongs in a
dem ocracy in t he hands of t he people. Giving power t o
Panchayat s is also a way t o reduce corrupt ion and increase
adm inist rat ive efficiency. When people part icipat e in t he planning
and im plem ent at ion of developm ent al schem es, t hey would
nat urally exercise great er cont rol over t hese schem es. This would
elim inat e t he corrupt m iddlem en. Thus, Panchayat i Raj will
st rengt hen t he foundat ions of our dem ocracy.

6.

Different argum ent s are usually put fort h in favour of and against
power sharing. I dent ify t hose which are in favour of power sharing
and select t he answer using t he codes given below? Power sharing:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.

reduces conflict am ong different com m unit ies

decreases t he possibilit y of arbit rariness
delays decision m aking process
accom m odat es diversit ies
increases inst abilit y and divisiveness
prom ot es peoples part icipat ion in governm ent
underm ines t he unit y of a count ry

( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)
7.

A
A
A
B

B
C
B
C

D
E
D
D

F
F
G
G

Consider t he following st at em ent s about power sharing

arrangem ent s in Belgium and Sri Lanka.
A. I n Belgium , t he Dut ch- speaking m aj orit y people t ried t o im pose
t heir dom inat ion on t he m inorit y French- speaking com m unit y.
B. I n Sri Lanka, t he policies of t he governm ent sought t o ensure t he
dom inance of t he Sinhala- speaking m aj orit y.
C. The Tam ils in Sri Lanka dem anded a federal arrangem ent of
power sharing t o prot ect t heir cult ure, language and equalit y of
opport unit y in educat ion and j obs.
D. The t ransform at ion of Belgium from unit ary governm ent t o a
federal one prevent ed a possible division of t he count ry on
linguist ic lines.

Which of t he st at em ent s given above are correct ?

( a) A, B, C and D

( b) A, B and D

( c) C and D

( d) B, C and D

11

8.

Match List I ( form s of power sharing) with List I I ( form s of governm ent)
and select t he correct answer using t he codes given below in t he list s:

1.

List I

List I I

Power shared am ong different

organs of governm ent

A. Com m unit y governm ent

2.

Power shared am ong governm ent s

at different levels
B. Separat ion of powers

3.

Power shared by different social

groups

C. Coalit ion governm ent

Power shared by t wo or m ore

polit ical part ies

D. Federal governm ent

4.

( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)
9.

1
D
B
B
C

2
A
C
D
D

3
B
D
A
A

4
C
A
C
B

Consider t he following t wo st at em ent s on power sharing and

select t he answer using t he codes given below:
A. Power sharing is good for dem ocracy.
B. I t helps to reduce the possibility of conflict between social groups.
Which of t hese st at em ent s are t rue and false?
( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)

12

A is t rue but B is false

Bot h A and B are t rue
Bot h A and B are false
A is false but B is t rue

13


Let us get back to the contrast between
Belgium and Sri Lanka that we saw in
the last chapter. You would recall that
one of the key changes made in the
Constitution of Belgium was to reduce
the power of the Central Government
and to give these powers to the regional
governments. Regional governments
existed in Belgium even earlier. They
had their roles and powers. But all these
powers were given to these
governments and could be withdrawn
by the Central Government. The
change that took place in 1993 was that
the regional governments were given
constitutional powers that were no
longer dependent on the central
government. Thus, Belgium shifted
from a unitary to a federal form of
government. Sri Lanka continues to be,

I am confused.
What do we call
t he I ndian
governm ent ? I s
it Union, Federal
or Cent ral?

for all practical purposes, a unitary

system where the national government
has all the powers. Tamil leaders want
Sri Lanka to become a federal system.
Federalism is a system of
government in which the power is
divided between a central authority and
various constituent units of the
country. Usually, a federation has two
levels of government. One is the
government for the entire country that
is usually responsible for a few subjects
of common national interest. The
others are governments at the level of
provinces or states that look after
much of the day-to-day administering
of their state. Both these levels of
governments enjoy their power
independent of the other.

Federal
political systems

Russia
Germany

Canada

Belgium
Switzerland
Spain

United States
of America
St. Kitts
and Nevis

Mexico

PACIFIC OCEAN

Ethiopia
ATLANTIC
OCEAN

Argentina

India

PACIFIC OCEAN

United
Arab
Emirates
Malaysia
Comoros
INDIAN
OCEAN
Australia

Micronesia

South Africa

Source: Montreal and Kingston, Handbook of Federal Countries: 2002, McGill-Queens University Press, 2002.

14

Brazil

Bosnia and Pakistan

Herzegovina

Nigeria

Venezuela

Austria

Though only 25 of the worlds 192 countries have federal political systems, their citizens make up 40 per cent of
the worlds population. Most of the large countries of the world are federations. Can you notice an exception to this
rule in this map?

In this sense, federations are

contrasted with unitary governments.
Under the unitary system, either there
is only one level of government or the
sub-units are subordinate to the central
government. The central government
can pass on orders to the provincial or
the local government. But in a federal
system, the central government cannot
order the state government to do
something. State government has
powers of its own for which it is not
answerable to the central government.
Both these governments are separately
answerable to the people.
Let us look at some of the key
features of federalism :
1 There are two or more levels (or
tiers) of government.
2 Different tiers of government
govern the same citizens, but each tier
has its own JURISDICTION in specific
matters of legislation, taxation and
administration.
3 The jurisdictions of the respective
levels or tiers of government are
specified in the constitution. So the
existence and authority of each tier of
government is constitutionally
guaranteed.
4 The fundamental provisions of
the constitution cannot be unilaterally
changed by one level of government.
Such changes require the consent of
both the levels of government.
5 Courts have the power to interpret
the constitution and the powers of
different levels of government. The
highest court acts as an umpire if
disputes arise between different levels
of government in the exercise of their
respective powers.
6 Sources of revenue for each level
of government are clearly specified to
ensure its financial autonomy.

7 The federal system thus has dual

objectives: to safeguard and promote
unity of the country, while at the same
time accommodate regional diversity.
Therefore, two aspects are crucial for
the institutions and practice of
federalism. Governments at different
levels should agree to some rules of
power sharing. They should also trust
that each would abide by its part of
the agreement. An ideal federal system
has both aspects : mutual trust and
agreement to live together.

I f federalism
works only in big
count ries, why
did Belgium
adopt it ?

The exact balance of power

between the central and the state
government varies from one federation
to another. This balance depends
mainly on the historical context in which
the federation was formed. There are
two kinds of routes through which
federations have been formed. The first
route involves independent States
coming together on their own to form
a bigger unit, so that by pooling
sovereignity and retaining identity they
can increase their security. This type of
coming together federations include
the USA, Switzerland and Australia. In
this first category of federations, all the
constituent States usually have equal
power and are strong vis--vis the
federal government.
The second route is where a large
country decides to divide its power
between the constituent States and the
national government. India, Spain and
Belgium are examples of this kind of
holding together federations. In
this second category, the central
government tends to be more powerful
vis--vis the States. Very often different
constituent units of the federation have
unequal powers. Some units are
granted special powers.

Jurisdiction: The area

over which someone
has legal authority. The
area may be defined in
terms of geographical
boundaries or in terms
of certain kinds of
subjects.

15

Som e Nepalese cit izens were discussing t he proposals on t he adopt ion

of federalism in t heir new const it ut ion. This is what som e of t hem said:
Khag Raj : I dont like federalism . I t would lead t o reservat ion of seat s for
different cast e groups as in I ndia.
Sarit a: Ours in not a very big count ry. We dont need federalism .
Babu Lal: I am hopeful t hat t he Terai areas will get m ore aut onom y if t hey get
t heir own st at e governm ent .
Ram Ganesh: I like federalism because it will m ean t hat powers t hat were earlier
enj oyed by t he king will now be exercised by our elect ed represent at ives.
I f you were part icipat ing in t his conversat ion what would be your response t o each
of t hese? Which of t hese reflect a wrong underst anding of what federalism is?
What m akes I ndia a federal count ry?

We have earlier seen how small
countries like Belgium and Sri Lanka
face so many problems of managing
diversity. What about a vast country like
India, with so many languages, religions
and regions? What are the power
sharing arrangements in our country?

I snt t hat
st range? Did our
const it ut ion
m akers not know
about
federalism ? Or
did t hey wish t o
avoid t alking
about it ?

16

Let us begin with the Constitution.

India had emerged as an independent
nation after a painful and bloody
partition. Soon after Independence,
several princely states became a part of
the country. The Constitution declared
India as a Union of States. Although it
did not use the word federation, the
Indian Union is based on the principles
of federalism.
Let us go back to the seven features
of federalism mentioned above. We can
see that all these features apply to the
provisions of the Indian Constitution.
The Constitution originally provided
for a two-tier system of government,
the Union Government or what we call
the Central Government, representing

the Union of India and the State

governments. Later, a third tier of
federalism was added in the form of
Panchayats and Municipalities. As in
any federation, these different tiers
enjoy separate jurisdiction. The
Constitution clearly provided a threefold distribution of legislative powers
between the Union Government and
the State Governments. Thus, it
contains three lists:

Union List includes subjects of

national importance such as defence
of the country, foreign affairs, banking,
communications and currency. They
are included in this list because we need
a uniform policy on these matters
throughout the country. The Union
Government alone can make laws
relating to the subjects mentioned in
the Union List.

State List contains subjects of

State and local importance such as
police, trade, commerce, agriculture
and irrigation. The State Governments

alone can make laws relating to the

subjects mentioned in the State List.
Concurrent List includes subjects
of common interest to both the Union
Government as well as the State
Governments, such as education, forest,
trade unions, marriage, adoption and
succession. Both the Union as well as
the State Governments can make laws
on the subjects mentioned in this list.
If their laws conflict with each other,
the law made by the Union
Government will prevail.
What about subjects that do not
fall in any of the three lists? Or subjects
like computer software that came up
after the constitution was made?
According to our constitution, the
Union Government has the power to
legislate on these residuary subjects.
We noted above that most
federations that are formed by holding
together do not give equal power to
its constituent units. Thus, all States in
the Indian Union do not have identical
powers. Some States enjoy a special
status. Jammu and Kashmir has its own
Constitution. Many provisions of the
Indian Constitution are not applicable
to this State without the approval of
the State Assembly. Indians who are
not permanent residents of this State
cannot buy land or house here. Similar
special provisions exist for some other
States of India as well.

There are some units of the Indian

Union which enjoy very little power.
These are areas which are too small to
become an independent State but
which could not be merged with any
of the existing States. These areas, like
Chandigarh, or Lakshadweep or the
capital city of Delhi, are called Union
Territories. These territories do not
have the powers of a State. The Central
Government has special powers in
running these areas.
This sharing of power between the
Union Government and the State
governments is basic to the structure
of the Constitution. It is not easy to
make changes to this power sharing
arrangement. The Parliament cannot
on its own change this arrangement.
Any change to it has to be first passed
by both the Houses of Parliament with
at least two-thirds majority. Then it has
to be ratified by the legislatures of at
least half of the total States.

I f agricult ure and

com m erce are
st at e subj ect s,
why do we have
m inist ers of
agricult ure and
com m erce in t he
Union cabinet ?

The judiciary plays an important

role in overseeing the implementation
of constitutional provisions and
procedures. In case of any dispute about
the division of powers, the High Courts
and the Supreme Court make a decision.
The Union and State governments
have the power to raise resources by
levying taxes in order to carry on the
government and the responsibilities
assigned to each of them.

List en t o one nat ional and one regional news bullet in broadcast by All I ndia
Radio daily for one week. Make a list of news it em s relat ed t o governm ent policies or
decisions by classifying t hese int o t he following cat egories:
News it em s t hat relat e only t o t he Cent ral Governm ent ,
News it em s t hat relat e only t o your or any ot her St at e Governm ent ,
News it em s about t he relat ionship bet ween t he Cent ral and St at e Governm ent s.

17

18

Pokharan, t he place where I ndia conduct ed it s nuclear t est s, lies

in Raj ast han. Suppose t he Governm ent of Raj ast han was opposed t o
t he Cent ral Governm ent s nuclear policy, could it prevent t he Governm ent of
I ndia from conduct ing t he nuclear t est s?
Suppose t he Governm ent of Sikkim plans t o int roduce new t ext books in it s schools.
But t he Union Governm ent does not like t he st yle and cont ent of t he new
t ext books. I n t hat case, does t he st at e governm ent need t o t ake perm ission from
t he Union Governm ent before t hese t ext books can be launched?
Suppose t he Chief Minist ers of Andhra Pradesh, Chhat t isgarh and Orissa have
different policies on how t heir st at e police should respond t o t he naxalit es. Can t he
Prim e Minist er of I ndia int ervene and pass an order t hat all t he Chief Minist ers will
have t o obey?


Constitutional provisions are necessary
for the success of federalism but these
are not sufficient. If the federal
experiment has succeeded in India, it
is not merely because of the clearly laid
out constitutional provisions. The real
success of federalism in India can be
attributed to the nature of democratic
politics in our country. This ensured
that the spirit of federalism, respect
for diversity and desire for living
together became a shared ideal in our
country. Let us look at some of the
major ways in which this happened.

Linguistic States
The creation of Linguistic States was
the first and a major test for democratic
politics in our country. If you look at

the political map of India when it

began its journey as a democracy in
1947 and that of 2006, you will be
surprised by the extent of the changes.
Many old States have vanished and
many new States have been created.
Areas, boundaries and names of the
States have been changed.
In 1947, the boundaries of several
old States of India were changed in
order to create new States. This was
done to ensure that people who spoke
the same language lived in the same
State. Some States were created not on
the basis of language but to recognise
differences based on culture, ethnicity
or geography. These include States like
Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.

Has your village or town

remained under the same State
since Independence? If not,
what was the name of the
earlier State?
Can you identify three State
names in 1947 that have
changed later?
Identify any three States which
have been carved out of a
bigger State.

19

When the demand for the

formation of States on the basis of
language was raised, some national
leaders feared that it would lead to the
disintegration of the country. The
Central Government resisted linguistic
States for some time. But the
experience has shown that the
formation of linguistic States has
actually made the country, more united.
It has also made administration easier.

Coalition government:
A government formed
by the coming together
of at least two political
parties. Usually partners
in a coalition form a
political alliance and
adopt a common
programme.

20

Centre-State relations

A second test for Indian federation is

the language policy. Our Constitution
did not give the status of national
language to any one language. Hindi was
identified as the official language. But
Hindi is the mother tongue of only
about 40 per cent of Indians. Therefore,
there were many safeguards to protect
other languages. Besides Hindi, there are
21 other languages recognised as
Scheduled Languages by the
Constitution. A candidate in an
examination conducted for the Central
Government positions may opt to take
the examination in any of these
languages. States too have their own
official languages. Much of the
government work takes place in the
official language of the concerned State.

Restructuring the Centre-State

relations is one more way in which
federalism has been strengthened in
practice. How the constitutional
arrangements for sharing power work
in reality depends to a large extent on
how the ruling parties and leaders
follow these arrangements. For a long
time, the same party ruled both at the
Centre and in most of the States. This
meant that the State governments did
not exercise their rights as autonomous
federal units. As and when the ruling
party at the State level was different,
the parties that ruled at the Centre tried
to undermine the power of the States.
In those days, the Central Government
would often misuse the Constitution
to dismiss the State governments that
were controlled by rival parties. This
undermined the spirit of federalism.

Unlike Sri Lanka, the leaders of our

country adopted a very cautious
attitude in spreading the use of Hindi.
According to the Constitution, the use
of English for official purposes was to
stop in 1965. However, many nonHindi speaking States demanded that
the use of English continue. In Tamil
Nadu, this movement took a violent
form. The Central Government
responded by agreeing to continue the
use of English along with Hindi for
official purposes. Many critics think
that this solution favoured the Englishspeaking elite. Promotion of Hindi

All this changed significantly

after 1990. This period saw the rise
of regional political parties in many
States of the country. This was also
the beginning of the era of
C OA L I T I O N G OV E R N M E N T S at the
Centre. Since no single party got a
clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the
major national parties had to enter
into an alliance with many parties
including several regional parties to
form a government at the Centre.
This led to a new culture of power
sharing and respect for the autonomy
of State Governments. This trend was

Language policy

Why Hindi?
Why not
Bangla or
Telugu?

continues to be the official policy of

the Government of India. Promotion
does not mean that the Central
Government can impose Hindi on
States where people speak a different
language. The flexibility shown by
Indian political leaders helped our
country avoid the kind of situation that
Sri Lanka finds itself in.

 Kutty - Laughing with Kutty

The States Plead for More Powers

Ajith Ninan - India Today Book of Cartoons

Perils of Running a Coalition Government

Here are two cartoons showing the relationship between Centre and States. Should the
State go to the Centre with a begging bowl? How can the leader of a coalition keep the
partners of government satisfied?

supported by a major judgement of

the Supreme Court that made it
difficult for the Central Government
to dismiss state governments in an

arbitrary manner. Thus, federal

power sharing is more effective today
than it was in the early years after
the Constitution came into force.

Are you
suggest ing t hat
regionalism is
good for our
dem ocracy? Are
you serious?

21

s
s

s
How m any languages do we have
in I ndia? The answer depends on
how one count s it . The lat est
inform at ion t hat we have is from
t he Census of I ndia held in 1991.
This census recorded m ore t han
1500 dist inct languages which
people m ent ioned as t heir m ot her
t ongues. These languages were
grouped t oget her under som e
m aj or languages. For exam ple
languages like Bhoj puri, Magadhi,
Bundelkhandi, Chhat t isgarhi,
Raj ast hani, Bhili and m any ot hers
were grouped t oget her under
Hindi. Even aft er t his grouping,
t he Census found 114 m aj or
languages. Of t hese 22 languages
are now included in t he Eight h
Schedule of t he I ndian Const it ut ion
and are t herefore called Scheduled
Languages. Ot hers are called nonScheduled Languages. I n t erm s of
languages, I ndia is perhaps t he
m ost diverse count ry in t he world.

Make a bar or pie chart on

t he basis of t his inform at ion.
Prepare a m ap of linguist ic
diversity of I ndia by shading t he
region where each of t hese
languages is spoken on t he m ap
of I ndia.
Find out about t hree
languages t hat are spoken in
I ndia but are not included in t his
t able.

Scheduled Languages of India

Language

Assamese
Bangla
Bodo
Dogri
Gujarati
Hindi
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
A look at t he enclosed t able
Maithili
m akes it clear t hat no one
Malayalam
language is t he m ot her t ongue of
Manipuri
t he m aj orit y of our populat ion. The
Marathi
largest language, Hindi, is t he
Nepali
m ot her t ongue of only about 40
Oriya
per cent I ndians. I f we add t o t hat
Punjabi
all t hose who knew Hindi as t heir
Sanskrit
second or t hird language, t he t ot al
Santhali
num ber was st ill less t han 50 per
Sindhi
cent in 1991. As for English, only
Tamil
0.02 per cent I ndians recorded it as
Telugu
t heir m ot her t ongue. Anot her 11
Urdu
per cent knew it as a second or

t hird language.

22

Read t his t able carefully, but

you do not need t o m em orise it .
Just do t he following:

Proportion of
speakers (%)
1.6
8.3
0.1
0.2
4.9
40.2
3.9
0.5
0.2
0.9
3.6
0.2
7.5
0.3
3.4
2.8
0.01
0.6
0.3
6.3
7.9
5.2

Note: The first column in this table lists all the languages
currently included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian
Constitution. The second column gives the proportion of the
speakers of each of these languages as per cent of the total
population of India. These figures are based on the Census of
India, 1991. The figures for Kashmiri and Dogri are based on
estimates, as the Census was not conducted in Jammu and
Kashmir in 1991.

Read t he following excerpt s from an art icle by not ed hist orian,

Ram achandra Guha, t hat appeared in t he Tim es of I ndia on Novem ber 1,
2006:

Take t he exam ple of your own st at e or any ot her st at e t hat was affect ed by
linguist ic reorganisat ion. Writ e a short not e for or against t he argum ent given by
t he aut hor here on t he basis of t hat exam ple.

23

So, we are like a

t hree- t ier coach
in a t rain! I
always prefer t he
lower bert h!

When power is taken away from

Central and State governments and given
to local government, it is called
decentralisation. The basic idea behind
decentralisation is that there are a large
number of problems and issues which
are best settled at the local level. People
have better knowledge of problems in
their localities. They also have better ideas
on where to spend money and how to
manage things more efficiently. Besides,
at the local level it is possible for the
people to directly participate in decision
making. This helps to inculcate a habit
of democratic participation. Local
government is the best way to realise one
important principle of democracy,
namely local self-government.

24

We noted above that federal

governments have two or more tiers
of governments. We have so far
discussed the two-tiers of government
in our country. But a vast country like
India cannot be run only through these
two-tiers. States in India are as large as
independent countries of Europe. In
terms of population, Uttar Pradesh is
bigger than Russia, Maharashtra is
about as big as Germany. Many of
these States are internally very diverse.
There is thus a need for power sharing
within these States. Federal power
sharing in India needs another tier of
government, below that of the State
governments. This is the rationale for
decentralisation of power. Thus,
resulted a third-tier of government,
called local government.

The need for decentralisation was

recognised in our Constitution. Since
then, there have been several attempts
to decentralise power to the level of
villages and towns. Panchayats in

villages and municipalities in urban

areas were set up in all the States. But
these were directly under the control
of state governments. Elections to
these local governments were not held
regularly. Local governments did not
have any powers or resources of their
own. Thus, there was very little
decentralisation in effective terms.
A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992. The
Constitution was amended to make the
third-tier of democracy more powerful
and effective.

Now it is constitutionally
mandatory to hold regular elections to
local government bodies.

Seats are reserved in the elected

bodies and the executive heads of
these institutions for the Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other
Backward Classes.

At least one-third of all positions

are reserved for women.

An independent institution called

the State Election Commission has
been created in each State to conduct
panchayat and municipal elections.

The State governments are required

to share some powers and revenue with
local government bodies. The nature of
sharing varies from State to State.
Rural local government is
popularly known by the name
panchayati raj. Each village, or a group
of villages in some States, has a gram
panchayat. This is a council consisting
of several ward members, often called
panch, and a president or sarpanch.
They are directly elected by all the
adult population living in that ward

or village. It is the decision-making

body for the entire village. The
panchayat works under the overall
supervision of the gram sabha. All the
voters in the village are its members.
It has to meet at least twice or thrice
in a year to approve the annual budget
of the gram panchayat and to review
the perfor mance of the gram
panchayat.
The local government structure
goes right up to the district level. A
few gram panchayats are grouped
together to form what is usually called
a panchayat samiti or block or mandal.
The members of this representative
body are elected by all the panchyat
members in that area. All the panchayat
samitis or mandals in a district together

constitute the zilla (district) parishad.

Most members of the zilla parishad are
elected. Members of the Lok Sabha
and MLAs of that district and some
other officials of other district level
bodies are also its members. Zilla
parishad chairperson is the political
head of the zilla parishad.
Similarly, local government bodies
exist for urban areas as well.
Municipalities are set up in towns. Big
cities are constituted into municipal
corporations. Both municipalities and
municipal corporations are controlled
by elected bodies consisting of peoples
representatives. Municipal chairperson
is the political head of the municipality.
In a municipal corporation such an
officer is called the mayor.

Prim e Minist er runs

t he count ry. Chief
Minist er runs t he
st at e. Logically,
t hen, t he
chairperson of Zilla
Parishad should
run t he dist rict .
Why does t he D.M.
or Collect or
adm inist er t he
dist rict ?

What do these newspaper clippings have to say about efforts of decentralisation in India?

25

An e x pe r im e nt in Br a zil
A cit y called Port o Alegre in Brazil has carried out an ext raordinary experim ent
in com bining decent ralisat ion wit h part icipat ive dem ocracy. The cit y has set up a
parallel organisat ion operat ing alongside t he m unicipal council, enabling local
inhabit ant s t o t ake real decisions for t heir cit y. The nearly 13 lakh people in t his
cit y get t o part icipat e in m aking t he budget for t heir own cit y. The cit y is divided
int o m any sect ors or what we call wards. Each sect or has a m eet ing, like t hat of
t he gram sabha, in which anyone living in t hat area can part icipat e. There are
som e m eet ings t o discuss issues t hat affect t he ent ire cit y. Any cit izen of t he cit y
can part icipat e in t hose m eet ings. The budget of t he cit y is discussed in t hese
m eet ings. The proposals are put t o t he m unicipalit y t hat t akes a final decision
about it .
About 20,000 people part icipat e in t his decision m aking exercise every year.
This m et hod has ensured t hat t he m oney cannot be spent only for t he benefit of
t he colonies where rich people live. Buses now run t o t he poor colonies and
builders cannot evict slum - dwellers wit hout reset t ling t hem .
I n our own count ry, a sim ilar experim ent has t aken place in som e areas in
Kerala. Ordinary people have part icipat ed in m aking a plan for t he developm ent
of t heir localit y.

This new system of local

government is the largest experiment
in democracy conducted anywhere in
the world. There are now about 36 lakh
elected representatives in the
panchayats and municipalities etc., all
over the country. This number is bigger
than the population of many countries
in the world. Constitutional status for
local government has helped to deepen
democracy in our country. It has also

increased womens representation and

voice in our democracy. At the same
time, there are many difficulties. While
elections are held regularly and
enthusiastically, gram sabhas are not
held regularly. Most state governments
have not transferred significant powers
to the local governments. Nor have
they given adequate resources. We are
thus still a long way from realising the
ideal of self-government.

Find out about t he local governm ent in t he village or t own you live in.

I f you live in a village, find out t he nam es of t he following: your panch or ward
m em ber, your sarpanch, your panchayat sam it i, t he chairperson of your zilla
parishad. Also find out when did t he last m eet ing of t he gram sabha t ake place and
how m any people t ook part in t hat .

I f you live in urban areas, find out t he nam e of your m unicipal councillor, and t he
m unicipal chairperson or m ayor. Also find out about t he budget of your m unicipal
corporat ion, m unicipalit y and t he m aj or it em s on which m oney was spent .

26

1.

Locat e t he following St at es on a blank out line polit ical m ap of I ndia:

Manipur, Sikkim , Chhat t isgarh and Goa.

2.

I dent ify and shade t hree federal count ries ( ot her t han I ndia) on a
blank out line polit ical m ap of t he world.

3.

Point out one feat ure in t he pract ice of federalism in I ndia t hat is
sim ilar t o and one feat ure t hat is different from t hat of Belgium .

4.

What is t he m ain difference bet ween a federal form of governm ent

and a unit ary one? Explain wit h an exam ple.

5.

St at e any t wo differences bet ween t he local governm ent before and

aft er t he Const it ut ional am endm ent in 1992.

6.

Fill in t he blanks:
Since t he Unit ed St at es is a ___________________ t ype of
federat ion, all t he const it uent St at es have equal powers and St at es
are ______________vis- -vis t he federal governm ent . But I ndia is a
_____________________ t ype of federat ion and som e St at es have
m ore power t han ot hers. I n I ndia, t he ____________ governm ent
has m ore powers.

7.

Here are t hree react ions t o t he language policy followed in I ndia.

Give an argum ent and an exam ple t o support any of t hese posit ions.
Sangeet a: The policy of accom m odat ion have st rengt hened
nat ional unit y.
Arm an: Language based St at es has divided us by m aking
everyone conscious of t heir language.
Harish: This policy has only helped t o consolidat e t he
dom inance of English over all ot her languages.

8.

The dist inguishing feat ure of a federal governm ent is:

( a) Nat ional governm ent gives som e powers t o t he provincial
governm ent .
( b) Power is dist ribut ed am ong t he legislat ure, execut ive and
j udiciary.
( c) Elect ed officials exercise suprem e power in t he governm ent .
( d) Governm ent al power is divided bet ween different levels of
governm ent .

9.

A few subj ect s in various List s of t he I ndian Const it ut ion are given
here. Group t hem under t he Union, St at e and Concurrent List s as
provided in t he t able below.
A. Defence; B. Police; C. Agricult ure; D. Educat ion;
E. Banking; F. Forest s; G. Com m unicat ions; H. Trade; I . Marriages

Union List
St at e List
Concurrent List
s

27

10. Exam ine t he following pairs t hat give t he level of governm ent in
I ndia and t he powers of t he governm ent at t hat level t o m ake laws
on t he subj ect s m ent ioned against each. Which of t he following pairs
is not correct ly m at ched?
( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)

St at e governm ent
Cent ral governm ent
Cent ral and St at e governm ent s
Local governm ent s

St at e List
Union List
Concurrent List
Residuary powers

11. Mat ch List I wit h List I I and select t he correct answer using
t he codes given below t he list s:
List I
1. Union of I ndia
2. St at e
3. Municipal Corporat ion
4. Gram Panchayat

( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)

1
D
B
A
C

2
A
C
C
D

3
B
D
D
A

List I I
A. Prim e Minist er
B. Sarpanch
C. Governor
D. Mayor

4
C
A
B
B

12. Consider t he following t wo st at em ent s.

A. I n a federat ion t he powers of t he federal and provincial
governm ent s are clearly dem arcat ed.
B. I ndia is a federat ion because t he powers of t he Union and St at e
Governm ent s are specified in t he Const it ut ion and t hey have
exclusive j urisdict ion on t heir respect ive subj ect s.
C. Sri Lanka is a federat ion because t he count ry is divided int o
provinces.
D. I ndia is no longer a federat ion because som e powers of t he St at es
have been devolved t o t he local governm ent bodies.
Which of t he st at em ent s given above are correct ?
( a) A, B and C ( b) A, C and D ( c) A and B only ( d) B and C only

28

29

30

Civil Rights Movement

in the USA (1954-1968)
refers to a set of events
and reform movements
aimed at abolishing legal
racial discrimination
against African-Americans.
Led by Martin Luther
King Jr., this movement
practiced non-violent
methods of civil
disobedience against
racially discriminatory
laws and practices.
African-American,
Afro-American, Black
American, or Black are the
terms used to refer mainly
to the descendants of
Africans who were
brought into America as
slaves between the 17th
century and early 19th
century.
The Black Power
movement emerged in
1966 and lasted till 1975,
which was a more militant
anti-racist movement,
advocating even violence
if necessary to end racism
in the US.

tried to draw international attention to

racial discrimination in the United
States. The black-gloved and raised
clenched fists were meant to symbolise
BLACK POWER. The silver medallist,
white Australian athlete, Peter Norman,
wore a human rights badge on his shirt
during the ceremony to show his
support to the two Americans.
Do you think that Carlos and
Smith should have raised an internal
matter of American society in an
international forum? Would you say
that what they did was political? Why
do you think Peter Norman, who was
neither Black nor American, joined in
the gesture of protest? If you were in
Normans place what would you do?

wikipedia & photo flickr.com Kevin

My salut e t o
Carlos and
Sm it h! Will I ever
have t he courage
t o do what t hey
did?

The pictures on this

page
depict
an
important landmark in
the history of the CIVIL
RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN
THE U NITED S TATES .
These represent the medal ceremony
of the 200 metres race in the 1968
Olympics held at Mexico City. The two
men standing with clenched fists
upraised and heads bowed, while the
American national anthem was
played, are the US athletes, Tommie
Smith and John Carlos. They are
AFRICAN-AMERICANS. They had won the
gold and bronze medals respectively.
They received their medals wearing
black socks and no shoes to represent
Black poverty. With this gesture, they

In 2005, the San Jose State University installed a 20-foot high sculpture representing the
protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos. A photograph of the original medal ceremony
in 1968 is on the top.

The International Olympic

Association held Carlos and Smith guilty
of violating the Olympic spirit by
making a political statement. Their
medals were taken back. Back home,
they were subjected to a lot of criticism.
Norman too suffered for his action and
was not included in the Australian team
for the next Olympic. But their action

succeeded in gaining international

attention for the Civil Rights Movement
in the US. Recently, the San Jose
(pronounced Saan Hoze) State
University, of which they were former
students, honoured them and installed
their statue in the University campus.
When Norman died in 2006, Smith and
Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.

Som e Dalit groups decided t o part icipat e in t he UN Conference

Against Racism in Durban in 2001, dem anding t he inclusion of cast e
in t he agenda of t his conference. Here are t hree react ions t o t his m ove:
Am andeep Kaur ( a gov er nm ent official) : Our Const it ut ion declar es
cast e discr im inat ion t o be illegal. I f som e cast e discr im inat ion
cont inues, it is an int er nal m at t er. I am opposed t o t his being raised in
an int er nat ional for um .
Oinam ( a sociologist ) : I am opposed t o t his because cast e and race ar e
not sim ilar div isions. Cast e is a social div ision, w hile race is a biological
one. Raising cast e in t his confer ence on racism w ould m ean equat ing
t he t w o.
Ashok ( a Dalit act ivist ) : The argum ent about int ernal m at t er is a
way of prevent ing open discussion of oppression and
I m et t his group
discrim inat ion. Race is not purely biological. I t is as m uch a legal
of girls from
and sociological cat egory as cast e. Cast e discrim inat ion m ust be
Pakist an and felt
raised in t his conference.
t hat I had m ore
in com m on wit h
Which of t he t hree opinions do you agree wit h m ost and why?
t hem t han m any
girls from ot her
part s of m y own
count ry. I s t his
ant i- nat ional t o
feel so?

The athletes in the example above were
responding to social divisions and
social inequalities. But does that
happen only in societies which have
racial divisions? In the previous two
chapters we have already noted some
other forms of social divisions. The
examples of Belgium and Sri Lanka

show both regional and social divisions.

In the case of Belgium we noted that
people who live in different regions
speak different languages. In Sri Lanka,
we noted linguistic as well as religious
differences. Thus social diversity can
take different for ms in different
societies.

31

Origins of social differences

These social differences are mostly
based on accident of birth. Normally
we dont choose to belong to our
community. We belong to it simply
because we were born into it. We all
experience social differences based on
accident of birth in our everyday lives.
People around us are male or female,
they are tall and short, have different
kinds of complexions, or have different
physical abilities or disabilities. But all
kinds of social differences are not
based on accident of birth. Some of
the differences are based on our
choices. For example, some people are
atheists. They dont believe in God or
any religion. Some people choose to

Every social difference does not

lead to social division. Social
differences divide similar people from
one another, but they also unite very
different people. People belonging to
different social groups share
differences and similarities cutting
across the boundaries of their groups.
In the instance above, Carlos and
Smith were similar in one way (both
were African-American) and thus
different from Norman who was
white. But they were also all similar in
other ways they were all athletes who
stood against racial discrimination.
It is fairly common for people
belonging to the same religion to feel
that they do not belong to the same
community, because their caste or sect
is very different. It is also possible for
people from different religions to have
the same caste and feel close to each
other. Rich and poor persons from the
same family often do not keep close
relations with each other for they feel
they are very different. Thus, we all
have more than one identity and can
belong to more than one social group.
We have different identities in different
contexts.

Ares - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

32

follow a religion other than the one in

which they were born. Most of us
choose what to study, which
occupation to take up and which
games or cultural activities to take part
in. All these lead to formation of social
groups that are based on our choices.

A cartoon like this can be read by different

people to mean different things. What does
this cartoon mean to you? How do other
students in your class read this?

Overlapping and cross-cutting

differences
Social division takes place when some
social difference overlaps with other
differences. The difference between
the Blacks and Whites becomes a social
division in the US because the Blacks
tend to be poor, homeless and
discriminated against. In our country
Dalits tend to be poor and landless.
They often face discrimination and
injustice. Situations of this kind
produce social divisions, when one
kind of social difference becomes
more important than the other and
people start feeling that they belong to
different communities.
If social differences cross cut one
another, it is difficult to pit one group
of people against the other. It means
that groups that share a common
interest on one issue are likely to be in
different sides on a different issue.
Consider the cases of Northern
Ireland and the Netherlands. Both are
predominantly Christian but divided
between Catholics and Protestants. In
Northern Ireland, class and religion
overlap with each other. If you are
Catholic, you are also more likely to be
poor, and you may have suffered a
history of discrimination. In the
Netherlands, class and religion tend to
cut across each other. Catholics and
Protestants are about equally likely to
be poor or rich. The result is that
Catholics and Protestants have had
conflicts in Northern Ireland, while
they do not do so in the Netherlands.
Overlapping social differences create
possibilities of deep social divisions
and tensions. Cross-cutting social
differences are easier to accommodate.

Read these two poems by Dalit writers. Why do you think the
poster is titled Hidden Apartheid ?

Social divisions of one kind or

another exist in most countries. It does
not matter whether the country is small
or big. India is a vast country with many
communities. Belgium is a small country
with many communities. Even those
countries such as Germany and Sweden,
that were once highly HOMOGENEOUS, are
undergoing rapid change with influx of
people from other parts of the world.
MIGRANTS bring with them their own
culture and tend to form a different
social community. In this sense most
countries of the world are multi-cultural.

Homeogenous society:
A society that has similar
kinds of people,
especially where there
are no significant ethnic
differences.
Migrant: Anybody who
shifts from one region
or country to another
region within a country
or to another country,
usually for work or other
economic opportunities.

33

I m rana is a st udent of Class X, sect ion B. She and all her classm at es are
planning t o help st udent s of Class XI in giving a farewell part y t o t he
st udent s of Class XI I . Last m ont h she played for sect ion t eam in a gam e of
kho- kho against t he t eam of Class X, sect ion A. She goes back hom e in a bus
and j oins all t he st udent s from various classes. They all com e from t ransYam una area in Delhi. Back hom e, she oft en j oins her elder sist er, Naim a, in
com plaining against her brot her who does no work at hom e, while t he sist ers
are asked t o help t heir m ot her. Her fat her is looking for a good m at ch for her
elder sist er, from a Muslim fam ily wit h a sim ilar econom ic st at us from t heir
own biradari.
Can you list t he various kinds of ident it ies I m rana has?
At hom e
she is
a girl
I n t erm s of religion
she is
.
I n t he school
she is
.

she is

.
she is
.

How do these social divisions affect

politics? What does politics do to these
social divisions? At first sight, it would
appear that the combination of politics
and social divisions is very dangerous
and explosive. Democracy involves
competition among various political
parties. Their competition tends to
divide any society. If they start
competing in terms of some existing
social divisions, it can make social
divisions into political divisions and
lead to conflict, violence or even
disintegration of a country. This has
happened in many countries.

Range of outcomes

34

Take the case of Northern Ireland that

we referred to above. This region of
the United Kingdom has been for many

years the site of a violent and bitter

ethno-political conflict. Its population
is divided into two major sects of
Christianity: 53 per cent are
Protestants, while 44 per cent are
Roman Catholics. The Catholics were
represented by Nationalist parties who
demanded that Northern Ireland be
unified with the Republic of Ireland,
a predominantly Catholic country. The
Protestants were represented by
Unionists who wanted to remain with
the UK, which is predominantly
protestant. Hundreds of civilians,
militants and security forces were killed
in the fight between Unionists and
Nationalists and between the security
forces of the UK and the Nationalists.
It was only in 1998, that the UK
government and the Nationalists

Bulgaria,
ulg
ulg ria,
ria,
Ro
ania
Romania
orr
o

Ganesh had com e back from his t rip and was t alking t o Mahashwet a
about t he Rom a people who live in m any count ries of East ern
Europe. He m et Yordanka who works as a nurse in Bulgaria. This is
what she has t o say about Rom a people:

Being a nurse you cant refuse t o look aft er som e people, but
t hese Rom a people are very dirt y. Even when som et hing sm all
happens t o any one in t heir fam ily, all t he fam ily and even t he
neighbours j ust m arch t o our hospit al. And once t hey are in t he hospit al
t hey dont know how t o keep quiet . They t alk aloud, sm oke and drop ashes all
over and spit on t he wall! They have no pat ience, and t hey j ust st art pest ering our
doct ors! And when t hey are j ust hanging out like t hat any way t hey look so
aggressive. Aft er all t hese dark skinned people dont look like us. They have a
st range sense of colour. Look at t heir dress, why cant t hey t ry t o look like
everyone else in t he count ry? And we all know t hey are t hieves. I have heard
people say t hat t hese Rom a people live by selling t heir blood. None of t hem can
afford t he hospit al fees. But when t hey are ill t hey j ust rush t o hospit al at t he cost
of good Bulgarians who pay t heir t axes!

India?
India?

That sounds fam iliar said Mahashwet a.

Ganesh went on t o t alk about Modruzeni, a Rom ani who lives in Rom ania. When
she was eight een years old, she went t o t he hospit al, t o give birt h t o her first
child. She had no m oney t o pay t o t he doct or or nurse. Though she was in t he
hospit al, nobody bot hered t o com e and t ake care of her. Finally t he sweeper, who
was also a Rom ani, helped her give birt h t o a boy. And t hen t he nurse appeared on
t he scene and said, Here we have anot her crim inal. Talking about how t he Rom a
people are t reat ed in public hospit als, she says: These doct ors keep us wait ing
out side t heir cabins. On one occasion one doct or asked m e t o t ake a bat h if I
needed t o be exam ined! Of course, I sm elled. During t he pregnancy I at e
from t he garbage cont ainers, because I was so hungry all t he t im e. My
husband had left m e. I had t wo children, and I was pregnant wit h t he
t hird.
The social worker refused m y request for food assist ance. My neighbour
helped m e t o deliver t he baby. I oft en feel it is bet t er not t o visit t hese
hospit als.
Mahashwet a heard him out and said, Ganesh, why do you have t o t ravel
halfway across t he world t o find t his out ? This is not a st ory about Rom ania
and Bulgaria or about t he Rom a people. This is as m uch a st ory about our
own count ry and about our people who are branded as crim inals by our
syst em .

Do you t hink Mahashwet a is right ? Do you know of som e com m unit y

in your area t hat is t reat ed like t he Rom as?
Have you heard people say t hings sim ilar t o what Yordanka or
Modruzeni say here? I f yes, t ry t o t hink of what t he st ory would sound like if
you heard it from t he ot her side?

D o you t h in k t h e Bu lga r ia n gove r n m e n t sh ou ld t r y t o e n su r e t h a t t h e

Rom a pe ople dr e ss a n d be h a ve lik e ot h e r pe ople fr om Bu lga r ia ?

35

reached a peace treaty after which the

latter suspended their armed struggle.
In Yugoslavia, the story did not have a
happy end. Political competition along
religious and ethnic lines led to the
disintegration of Yugoslavia into six
independent countries.
So, it happens all
over t he world,
even in Europe!
I t hought it was
only in count ries
like I ndia t hat we
have social
divisions.

Such examples lead some people

to conclude that politics and social
divisions must not be allowed to mix.
They think that it would be best if there
are no social divisions in any country.
If social divisions do exist in a country,
they must never be expressed in politics.

Orion / Juska Rantanen flickr.com

At the same time every expression

of social divisions in politics does not
lead to such disasters. We have already
seen that social divisions of one kind
or another exist in most countries of
the world. Wherever they exist, these
divisions are reflected in politics. In a
democracy it is only natural that
political parties would talk about these

In some societies of Northern Ireland, the colonies of Protestant and

Catholic communities are divided by walls. These walls are sometimes
filled with graffiti as you can see here. The Irish Republican Army and
British Government signed an agreement in 2005. What does the graffiti
here tell about the conflict in the society?

36

divisions, make different promises to

different communities, look after due
representation of various communities
and make policies to redress the
grievances of the disadvantaged
communities. Social divisions affect
voting in most countries. People from
one community tend to prefer some
party more than others. In many
countries there are parties that focus
only on one community. Yet all this
does not lead to disintegration of the
country.
Three determinants
Three factors are crucial in deciding
the outcome of politics of social
divisions. First of all the outcome
depends on how people perceive their
identities. If people see their identities
in singular and exclusive terms, it
becomes very difficult to
accommodate. As long as people in
northern Ireland saw themselves as
only Catholic or Protestant, their
differences were difficult to reconcile.
It is much easier if the people see that
their identities are multiple and are
complementary with the national
identity. A majority of Belgians now
feel that they are as much Belgian as
they are Dutch or German-speaking.
This helps them to stay together. This
is how most people in our country see
their identity: they think of themselves
as Indian as well as belonging to a state
or a language group or a social or
religious community.
Second, it depends on how
political leaders raise the demands of
any community. It is easier to
accommodate demands that are within
the constitutional framework and are
not at the cost of another community.

Third, it depends on the how the

government reacts to demands of
different groups. As we saw in the
examples of Belgium and Sri Lanka,
if the rulers are willing to share power
and accommodate the reasonable
demands of minority community,
social divisions become less
threatening for the country. But if they
try to suppress such a demand in the
name of national unity, the end result
is often quite the opposite. Such
attempts at forced integration often
sow the seeds of disintegration.
Thus the assertion of social
diversities in a country need not be seen
as a source of danger. In a democracy,
political expression of social divisions
is very normal and can be healthy. This
allows various disadvantaged and
marginal social groups to express their
grievances and get the government to
attend to these. Expression of various
kinds of social divisions in politics
often results in their cancelling one
another out and thus reducing their

Dario Castillejos - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

The demand for only Sinhala was at

the cost of the interest and identity of
the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. In
Yugoslavia, the leaders of different
ethnic communities presented their
demands in such a way that these could
not be accommodated within a single
country.

Draw or collect some

images of social divisions
in different aspects of life.
Can you think of some
examples of social
division or discrimination
in the field of sports?

intensity. This leads to strengthening

of a democracy.
But a positive attitude towards
diversity and a willingness to
accommodate it do not come about
easily. People who feel marginalised,
deprived and discriminated have to
fight against the injustices. Such a fight
often takes the democratic path,
voicing their demands in a peaceful and
constitutional manner and seeking a
fair position through elections.
Sometimes social differences can take
the form of unacceptable level of
social inequality and injustice. The
struggle against such inequalities
sometimes takes the path of violence
and defiance of state power. However
history shows that democracy is the
best way to fight for recognition and
also to accommodate diversity.

So, you are

saying t hat t oo
m any sm all
divisions are
bet t er t han a
single big
division? Are you
also saying t hat
polit ics is a force
of unit y?

1.

Discuss t hree fact ors t hat det erm ine t he out com es of polit ics of
social divisions.

2.

When does a social difference becom e a social division?

3.

How do social divisions affect polit ics? Give t wo exam ples.

4.

________________ social differences creat e possibilit ies of deep

social divisions and t ensions. ___________________ social
differences do not usually lead t o conflict s.

37

5.

I n dealing wit h social divisions which one of t he following st at em ent s

is NOT correct about dem ocracy?
( a) Due t o polit ical com pet it ion in a dem ocracy, social divisions get
reflect ed in polit ics.
( b) I n a dem ocracy it is possible for com m unit ies t o voice t heir
grievances in a peaceful m anner.
( c) Dem ocracy is t he best way t o accom m odat e social diversit y.
( d) Dem ocracy always leads t o disint egrat ion of societ y on t he basis
of social divisions.

6. Consider t he following t hree st at em ent s.

A. Social divisions t ake place when social differences overlap.
B. I t is possible t hat a person can have m ult iple ident it ies.
C. Social divisions exist in only big count ries like I ndia.
Which of t he st at em ent s is/ are correct ?
( a) A, B and C
( b) A and B
( c) B and C

( d) Only C

7. Arrange t he following st at em ent s in a logical sequence and select

t he right answers by using t he code given below.
A. But all polit ical expression of social divisions need not be always
dangerous.
B. Social divisions of one kind or t he ot her exist in m ost count ries.
C. Part ies t ry t o win polit ical support by appealing t o social
divisions.
D. Som e social differences m ay result in social divisions.
( a) D, B, C, A

( b) D, B, A, C

( c) D, A, C, B

( d) A, B, C, D

8. Am ong t he following, which count ry suffered disint egrat ion due t o

polit ical fight s on t he basis of religious and et hnic ident it ies?
( a) Belgium
9.

( c) Yugoslavia

( d) Net herlands

Read t he following passage from a fam ous speech by Mart in Lut her
King Jr. in 1963. Which social division is he t alking about ? What are
his aspirat ions and anxiet ies? Do you see a relat ionship bet ween t his
speech and t he incident in Mexico Olym pics m ent ioned in t his
chapt er?
I have a dream t hat m y four lit t le children will one day live in a
nat ion where t hey will not be j udged by t he colour of t heir skin
but by t he cont ent of t heir charact er. Let freedom ring. And when
t his happens, and when we allow freedom ringwhen we let it
ring from every village and every ham let , from every st at e and
every cit y, we will be able t o speed up t hat day when all of Gods
childrenblack m en and whit e m en, Jews and Gent iles,
Prot est ant s and Cat holicswill be able t o j oin hands and sing in
t he words of t he old Negro spirit ual: Free at last ! Free at last !
Thank God Alm ight y, we are free at last ! I have a dream t hat
one day t his nat ion will rise up and live out t he t rue m eaning of
it s creed: We hold t hese t rut hs t o be self- evident : t hat all m en
are creat ed equal.

38

( b) I ndia

39

Zuban

Public/private division

A poster from Bengal affirming womens

strength.

Sexual division of labour:

A system in which all work
inside the home is either
done by the women of the
family, or organised by
them through the
domestic helpers.

Let us begin with gender division. This

is a form of hierarchical social division
seen everywhere, but is rarely recognised
in the study of politics. The gender
division tends to be understood as natural
and unchangeable. However, it is not
based on biolog y but on social
expectations and stereotypes.

40

Why are we
discussing t hings
like household
work in t his
t ext book on
Polit ical Science?
I s t his polit ics?

Why not ? I f
polit ics is about
power, t hen
surely m ale
dom inance in t he
household should
be considered
polit ical.

Boys and girls are brought up to believe

that the main responsibility of women is
housework and bringing up children.
This is reflected in a SEXUAL DIVISION OF
LABOUR in most families: women do all
work inside the home such as cooking,
cleaning, washing clothes, tailoring,
looking after children, etc., and men do
all the work outside the home. It is not
that men cannot do housework; they
simply think that it is for women to
attend to these things. When these jobs
are paid for, men are ready to take up
these works. Most tailors or cooks in
hotels are men. Similarly, it is not that
women do not work outside their home.
In villages, women fetch water, collect
fuel and work in the fields. In urban
areas, poor women work as domestic
helper in middle class homes, while
middle class women work in offices. In
fact the majority of women do some
sort of paid work in addition to
domestic labour. But their work is not
valued and does not get recognition.
The result of this division of labour
is that although women constitute half
of the humanity, their role in public life,
especially politics, is minimal in most
societies. Earlier, only men were allowed
to participate in public affairs, vote and
contest for public offices. Gradually the
gender issue was raised in politics.
Women in different parts of the world
organised and agitated for equal rights.
There were agitations in different
countries for the extension of voting
rights to women. These agitations
demanded enhancing the political and
legal status of women and improving

their educational and career

opportunities. More radical womens
movements aimed at equality in personal
and family life as well. These movements
are called FEMINIST movements.
Political expression of gender
division and political mobilisation on this

question helped to improve womens

role in public life. We now find women
working as scientists, doctors, engineers,
lawyers, managers and college and
university teachers which were earlier not
considered suitable for women. In some
parts of the world, for example in

Zuban

Discuss all these perceptions of an ideal woman that prevail in our society. Do you
agree with any of these? If not, what is your image of an ideal woman?

Feminist: A woman
or a man who
believes in equal rights
and opportunities for
women and men.

41

Scandinavian countries such as Sweden,

Norway and Finland, the participation
of women in public life is very high.
In our country, women still lag much
behind men despite some improvement
since Independence. Ours is still a male-

dominated, PATRIARCHAL society. Women

face disadvantage, discrimination and
oppression in various ways:

The literacy rate among women is

only 54 per cent compared with 76 per
cent among men. Similarly, a smaller

A t im e use survey was conduct ed in six st at es of our count ry. I t

shows t hat an average wom an works every day for a lit t le over
seven and half hours while an average m an works for six and a
half hours. Yet t he work done by m en is m ore visible because
m ost of t heir work leads t o generat ion of incom e. Wom en also do
a lot of direct incom e generat ing work, but t he bulk of t heir work
is household relat ed. This work rem ains unpaid and invisible.

Daily time use (hours: minutes)

Activities

Men

Women

Income generating work

6:00

2:40

Household and related work

0:30

5:00

Talking, Gossip

1:25

1:20

No work/ Leisure

3:40

3:50

12:25

11:10

Sleep, self-care, reading etc.

Source: Government of India, Time Use Survey, 1998-99.

42

Patriarchy: Literally,
rule by father, this
concept is used to refer
to a system that values
men more and gives
them power over
women.

You can conduct a sim ilar t im e use survey in your own household.
Observe all t he adult m ale and fem ale m em bers of your fam ily for
one week. Every day not e down t he num ber of hours each of
t hem spends on t he following act ivit ies: incom e generat ing
act ivit y ( working at t he office or shop or fact ory or field, et c.) ,
household relat ed act ivit y ( cooking, cleaning, washing, fet ching
wat er, looking aft er children or elders, et c.) , reading and
recreat ion, t alking/ gossiping, self- care, t aking rest or sleeping. I f
necessary m ake new categories. Add up the tim e taken on each
activity for a week and calculate the daily average for each activity
for each m em ber. Do wom en work m ore in your fam ily as well?

proportion of girl students go for higher

studies. When we look at school results,
girls perform as well as boys, if not
better in some places. But they drop out
because parents prefer to spend their
resources for their boys education rather
than spending equally on their sons and
daughters.

No wonder the proportion of

women among the highly paid and
valued jobs is still very small. On an
average an Indian woman works one
hour more than an average man every
day. Yet much of her work is not paid

and therefore often not valued.

The Equal Wages Act provides that

equal wages should be paid to equal
work. However in almost all areas of
work, from sports and cinema, to
factories and fields, women are paid less
than men, even when both do exactly
the same work.

In many parts of India parents

prefer to have sons and find ways to
have the girl child aborted before she is
born. Such sex-selective abortion led to
a decline in child sex ratio (number of
girl children per thousand boys) in the

Mum m y always
says t o out siders:
I dont work. I
am a housewife.
But I see her
working non- st op
all t he t im e. I f
what she does is
not work, what
else is work?

Can you identify your district on this map?

What is the child sex ratio in it? How is it
different from others with a different colour?
Identify the States where most districts have
child sex ratio below 850.
Compare this map with the poster on the next
page. How do the two of them tell us about the
same issue?

CHILD SEX RATIO

DELHI

BELOW 800
800-849
850-899
900-949
950 AND ABOVE
DATA NOT AVA LABLE

NATIONAL AVERAGE 927

Source: UNFP

Map not to scale

43

They are not safe even within their own

home from beating, harrassment and
other forms of domestic violence.

Womens political
representation

Oxfam GB

All this is well known. Yet issues related

to womens well being or otherwise are
not given adequate attention. This has led
many feminists and womens movements
to the conclusion that unless women
control power, their problems will not
get adequate attention. One way to
ensure this is to have more women as
elected representatives.

country to merely 927. As the map

shows, this ratio has fallen below 850 or
even 800 in some places.
There are reports of various kinds
of harassment, exploitation and violence
against women. Urban areas have
become particularly unsafe for women.

In India, the proportion of women

in legislature has been very low. For
example, the percentage of elected
women members in Lok Sabha has never
reached even 10 per cent of its total
strength. Their share in the state
assemblies is less than 5 per cent. In this
respect, India is among the bottom
group of nations in the world (see the
graph below). India is behind the

Women in national parliaments in different

regions of the world (in%)
40
40

World
Average
16.8

20.2

19.6

16 5

Could you think of some

reasons why womens
representation is so low
in India? Do you think
Americas and Europe
have achieved a
satisfactory level of
womens representation?

44

16 3
12 3

11.7
83

Nordic Americas E urope SubAsia

countries
Saharan Africa

Pacific

South
Asia

India

82

Arab
States

Region
Note: Figures are for the per cent of women in the directly elected chambers of parliament in 2006
Source: http://www ipu org/wmn-e/world htm

averages for several developing countries

of Africa and Latin America. In the
government, cabinets are largely all-male
even when a woman becomes the Chief
Minister or the Prime Minister.
One way to solve this problem is to
make it legally binding to have a fair
proportion of women in the elected
bodies. This is what the Panchayati Raj
has done in India. One-third of seats in
local government bodies in panchayats
and municipalities are now reserved
for women. Now there are more than
10 lakh elected women representatives
in rural and urban local bodies.
Womens org anisations and
activists have been demanding a similar

reservation of at least one-third of

seats in the Lok Sabha and State
Assemblies for women. A bill with this
proposal has been pending before the
Parliament for more than a decade. But
there is no consensus over this among
all the political parties. The bill has not
been passed.
Gender division is an example that
some form of social division needs to
be expressed in politics. This also shows
that disadvantaged groups do benefit
when social divisions become a political
issue. Do you think that women could
have made the gains we noted above if
their unequal treatment was not raised
in the political domain?

I f cast eism and

com m unalism are
bad, what m akes
fem inism a good
t hing? Why dont
we oppose all
t hose who divide
t he societ y on
any lines cast e,
religion or
gender?

Surender - The Hindu

This cartoon offers an understanding of why the Womens Reservation Bill has not been passed in the
Parliament. Do you agree with this reading?

45

46

I am not religious.
Why should I
bot her about
com m unalism and
secularism ?

Let us now turn to a very different kind

of social division, the division based on
religious differences. This division is not
as universal as gender, but religious
diversity is fairly widespread in the world
today. Many countries including India
have in their population, followers of
different religions. As we noticed in the
case of Northern Ireland, even when
most of the people belong to the same
religion, there can be serious differences
about the way people practice that
religion. Unlike gender differences, the
religious differences are often expressed
in the field of politics.
Consider the following:

Gandhiji used to say that religion can

never be separated from politics. What
he meant by religion was not any

particular religion like Hinduism or Islam

but moral values that inform all religions.
He believed that politics must be guided
by ethics drawn from religion.

Human rights groups in our country

have argued that most of the victims of
communal riots in our country are
people from religious minorities. They
have demanded that the government
take special steps to protect religious
minorities.

Womens movement has argued

that FAMILY LAWS of all religions
discriminate against women. So they
have demanded that government should
change these laws to make them more
equitable.
All these instances involve a
relationship between religion and politics.

But they do not seem very wrong or

dangerous. Ideas, ideals and values
drawn from different religions can and
perhaps should play a role in politics.
People should be able to express in
politics their needs, interests and demands
as a member of a religious community.
Those who hold political power should
sometimes be able to regulate the
practice of religion so as to prevent
discrimination and oppression. These
political acts are not wrong as long as
they treat every religion equally.

Communalism
The problem begins when religion is seen
as the basis of the nation. The example
of Northern Ireland in Chapter 3 shows
the dangers of such an approach to
nationalism. The problem becomes
more acute when religion is expressed
in politics in exclusive and partisan terms,
when one religion and its followers are
pitted against another. This happens when
beliefs of one religion are presented as
superior to those of other religions,
when the demands of one religious
group are formed in opposition to
another and when state power is used
to establish domination of one religious
group over the rest. This manner of
using religion in politics is communal
politics.
Communal politics is based on the
idea that religion is the principal basis of
social community. Communalism
involves thinking along the following
lines. The followers of a particular
religion must belong to one community.
Their fundamental interests are the same.
Any difference that they may have is
irrelevant or trivial for community life.
It also follows that people who follow
different religions cannot belong to the

same social community. If the followers

of different religion have some
commonalities these are superficial and
immaterial. Their interests are bound to
be different and involve a conflict. In its
extreme form communalism leads to the
belief that people belonging to different
religions cannot live as equal citizens
within one nation. Either, one of them
has to dominate the rest or they have to
form different nations.

I oft en crack
j okes about
people from one
religion. Does
t hat m ake m e
communal?

This belief is fundamentally flawed.

People of one religion do not have the
same interests and aspirations in every
context. Everyone has several other roles,
positions and identities. There are many
voices inside every community. All these
voices have a right to be heard. Therefore
any attempt to bring all followers of one
religion together in context other than
religion is bound to suppress many voices
within that community.
Communalism can take various
forms in politics:

The most common expression of

communalism is in everyday beliefs.
These routinely involve religious
prejudices, stereotypes of religious
communities and belief in the superiority
of ones religion over other religions. This
is so common that we often fail to notice
it, even when we believe in it.

A communal mind often leads to a

quest for political dominance of ones
own religious community. For those
belonging to majority community, this
takes the for m of majoritarian
dominance. For those belonging to the
minority community, it can take the
form of a desire to form a separate
political unit.

Political mobilisation on religious

lines is another frequent form of

Family laws: Those

laws that deal with
family related matters
such as marriage,
divorce, adoption,
inheritance, etc. In our
country, different family
laws apply to followers
of different religions.

47

We remain strangers
Even after so many meetings
Blood stains remain
Even after so many rains
Faiz

communalism. This involves the use of

sacred symbols, religious leaders,
emotional appeal and plain fear in order
to bring the followers of one religion
together in the political arena. In electoral
politics this often involves special appeal
to the interests or emotions of voters
of one religion in preference to others.

48

Sometimes communalism takes its

most ugly form of communal violence,
riots and massacre. India and Pakistan
suffered some of the worst communal
riots at the time of the Partition. The
post-Independence period has also seen
large scale communal violence.

Secular state
Communalism was and continues to
be one of the major challenges to
democracy in our country. The makers
of our Constitution were aware of this
challenge. That is why they chose the
model of a secular state. This choice was
reflected in several constitutional
provisions that we studied last year:

There is no official religion for the

Indian state. Unlike the status of
Buddhism in Sri Lanka, that of Islam in
Pakistan and that of Christianity in
England, our Constitution does not give
a special status to any religion.

The Constitution provides to all

individuals and communities freedom to
profess, practice and propagate any
religion, or not to follow any.

The Constitution prohibits

discrimination on grounds of religion.

Understood in this sense, secularism

is not just an ideology of some parties
or persons. This idea constitutes one of
the foundations of our country.
Communalism should not be seen as a
threat to some people in India. It
threatens the very idea of India. That is
why communalism needs to be
combated. A secular Constitution like
ours is necessary but not sufficient to
combat communalism. Communal
prejudices and propaganda needs to be

Ajith Ninan - The Times of India

At the same time the Constitution

allows the state to intervene in the
matters of religion in order to ensure
equality within religious communities.
For example, it bans untouchability.

countered in every day life and religion

based mobilisation needs to be
countered in the arena of politics.

Caste inequalities

this system, hereditary occupational

division was sanctioned by rituals.
Members of the same caste group were
supposed to form a social community
that practiced the same or similar
occupation, married within the caste
group and did not eat with members
from other caste groups.

Unlike gender and religion, caste division

is special to India. All societies have some
kind of social inequality and some form
of division of labour. In most societies,
occupations are passed on from one
generation to another. Caste system is an
extreme form of this. What makes it
different from other societies is that in

Caste system was based on exclusion

of and discrimination against the
outcaste groups. They were subjected
to the inhuman practice of untouchability
about which you have studied in Class
IX. That is why political leaders and social
reformers like Jotiba Phule, Gandhiji,
B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami

We have seen two instances of the

expression of social divisions in the arena
of politics, one largely positive and the
other largely negative. Let us turn to our
final case, that of caste and politics, that
has both positive and the negative aspects.

49

Social and Religious Diversit y of I ndia

The Census of I ndia records t he religion of each and every I ndian aft er every t en
years. The person who fills t he Census form visit s every household and records t he
religion of each m em ber of t hat household exact ly t he way each person describes it .
I f som eone says she has no religion or t hat he is an at heist , t his is exact ly how it is
recorded. Thus we have reliable inform at ion on t he proport ion of different religious
com m unit ies in t he count ry and how it has changed over t he years. The pie chart
below present s t he populat ion proport ion of six m aj or religious groups in t he count ry.
Since I ndependence, t he t ot al populat ion of each group has increased subst ant ially
but t heir proport ion in t he count rys populat ion has not changed m uch. I n percent age
t erm s, t he populat ion of t he Hindus, Jains and Christ ians has declined m arginally since
1961. The proport ion of Muslim , Sikh and Buddhist populat ion has increased slight ly.
There is a com m on but m ist aken im pression t hat t he proport ion of t he Muslim s in t he
count rys populat ion is going t o overt ake ot her religious groups. Expert est im at es done
for t he Prim e Minist ers High Level Com m it t ee ( popularly known as Sachar Com m it t ee)
show t hat t he proport ion of t he Muslim s is expect ed t o go up a lit t le, by about 3 t o 4
per cent , in t he next 50 years. I t proves t hat in overall t erm s, t he populat ion balance
of different religious groups is not likely t o change in a big way.
The sam e is t rue of t he m aj or cast e groups. The Census of I ndia count s t wo social
groups: t he Scheduled Cast es and t he Scheduled Tribes. Bot h t hese broad groups
include hundreds of cast es or t ribes whose nam es are list ed in an official Schedule.
Hence t he prefix Scheduled in t heir nam e. The Scheduled Cast es, com m only known
as Dalit s, include t hose t hat were previously regarded as out cast e in t he Hindu social
order and were subj ect ed t o exclusion and unt ouchabilit y. The Scheduled Tribes, oft en
referred t o as Adivasis, include t hose com m unit ies t hat led a secluded life usually in
hills and forest s and did not int eract m uch wit h t he rest of societ y. I n 2001, t he
Scheduled Cast es were 16.2 per
cent and t he Scheduled Tribes were
Population of different religious
8.2 per cent of t he count rys
group in India, 2001
population.

The Census does not yet count t he

Ot her Backward Classes, t he group
we discussed in class I X. Hence
t here are som e differences about
t heir proport ion in t he count rys
populat ion. The Nat ional Sam ple
Survey of 2004- 05 est im at es t heir
populat ion t o be around 41 per
cent . Thus t he SC, ST and t he
OBC t oget her account for about
t wo- t hirds of t he count rys
populat ion and about t hree- fourt hs
of t he Hindu populat ion.

50

Hindu
80.5%

Muslim
13.4%

Others 1.9%
Others include Buddhist 0.8% Jain 0.4%
All other religions 0.6% No religion 0.1%
Source: Census of India, 2001

Christian 2.3%
Sikh 1.9%

Naicker advocated and worked to

establish a society in which caste
inequalities are absent.
Partly due to their efforts and partly
due to other socio-economic changes,
castes and caste system in modern India
have undergone great changes. With
economic development, large scale
URBANISATION, growth of literacy and
education, OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY and
the weakening of the position of
landlords in the villages, the old notions
of CASTE HIERARCHY are breaking down.
Now, most of the times, in urban areas
it does not matter much who is walking
along next to us on a street or eating at
the next table in a restaurant. The
Constitution of India prohibited any
caste-based discrimination and laid the
foundations of policies to reverse the
injustices of the caste system. If a person
who lived a century ago were to return
to India, she would be greatly surprised
at the change that has come about in
the country.
Yet caste has not disappeared from
contemporary India. Some of the older
aspects of caste have persisted. Even
now most people marry within their
own caste or tribe. Untouchability has
not ended completely, despite
constitutional prohibition. Effects of
centuries of advantages and
disadvantages continue to be felt today.
The caste groups that had access to
education under the old system have
done very well in acquiring modern
education as well. Those groups that did
not have access to education or were
prohibited from acquiring it have naturally
lagged behind. That is why there is a
disproportionately large presence of
upper caste among the urban middle
classes in our country. Caste continues to

I dont care what

m y cast e is. Why
are we discussing
all t his in t he
t ext book? Are we
not prom ot ing
cast eism by
t alking about
cast e?

Now you dont like

it ! Didnt you t ell
m e t hat wherever
t here is dom inat ion,
we should discuss it
in Polit ical Science?
Will cast e disappear
if we keep m um
about it ?

be closely linked to economic status.

(See Plus Box on Page 52.)

Caste in politics
As in the case of communalism, casteism
is rooted in the belief that caste is the
sole basis of social community.
According to this way of thinking,
people belonging to the same caste
belong to a natural social community and
have the same interests which they do
not share with anyone from another caste.
As we saw in the case of communalism,
such a belief is not borne out by our
experience. Caste is one aspect of our
experience but it is not the only relevant
or the most important aspect.
Caste can take various forms in politics:

When parties choose candidates in

elections, they keep in mind the caste
composition of the electorate and
nominate candidates from different
castes so as to muster necessary support
to win elections. When governments are
formed, political parties usually take care
that representatives of different castes and
tribes find a place in it.

Urbanisation: Shift of
population from rural
areas to urban areas
Occupational
mobility: Shift from
one occupation to
another, usually when a
new generation takes up
occupations other than
those practiced by their
ancestors.
Caste hierarchy: A
ladder like formation in
which all the caste
groups are placed from
the highest to the
lowest castes.

51

Cast e inequalit y t oday

Cast e is an im port ant source of econom ic inequalit y because it regulat es access
t o resources of various kinds. For exam ple, in t he past , t he so- called
unt ouchable cast es were denied t he right t o own land, while only t he so- called
t wice born cast es had t he right t o educat ion. Alt hough t his kind of explicit and
form alised inequalit y based on cast e is now out lawed, t he effect s of cent uries of
accum ulat ed advant ages and disadvant ages cont inue t o be felt . Moreover, new
kinds of inequalit ies have also developed.
The relat ionship bet ween cast e and econom ic st at us has cert ainly changed a lot .
Today, it is possible t o find very rich and very poor people in every cast e,
whet her low or high. This was not t rue even t went y or t hirt y years ago it
was very rare indeed t o find rich people am ong t he lowest cast es. However, as
t his evidence from t he Nat ional Sam ple Survey shows, cast e cont inues t o be very
st rongly linked t o econom ic st at us in m any im port ant ways:

The average econom ic st at us ( m easured by crit eria like m ont hly consum pt ion
expendit ure) of cast e groups st ill follows t he old hierarchy t he upper cast es
are best off, t he Dalit s and Adivasis are worst off, and t he backward classes are
in bet ween.

Alt hough every cast e has som e poor m em bers, t he proport ion living in
ext rem e povert y ( below t he official povert y line) is m uch higher for t he lowest
cast es and m uch lower for t he upper cast es, wit h t he backward classes once
again in bet ween.

Alt hough every cast e has som e m em bers who are rich, t he upper cast es are
heavily over- represent ed am ong t he rich while t he lower cast es are severely
under- represent ed.

Percentage of poulation living below the poverty line, 1999-2000

Rural

Urban

Scheduled Tribes

45.8

35.6

Scheduled Castes

35.9

38.3

Other Backward Classes

27.0

29.5

Muslim Upper Castes

26.8

34.2

Hindu Upper Castes

11.7

9.9

Christian Upper Castes

9.6

5.4

Sikh Upper Castes

0.0

4.9

Other Upper Castes

16.0

2.7

All Groups

27.0

23.4

Caste and Community groups

52

Note: Upper Caste here means those who are not from SC, ST, or OBC. Below the poverty line
means those who spent Rs 327 or less per person per month in rural and Rs 454 or less per
person per month in urban areas.
Source: National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), Government of India, 55th Round, 1999-2000

Political parties and candidates in

elections make appeals to caste sentiment
to muster support. Some political parties
are known to favour some castes and
are seen as their representatives.

Universal adult franchise and the

principle of one-person-one-vote
compelled political leaders to gear up
to the task of mobilising and securing
political support. It also brought new
consciousness among the people of
castes that were hitherto treated as
inferior and low.
The focus on caste in politics can
sometimes give an impression that
elections are all about caste and nothing
else. That is far from true. Just consider
these:

No parliamentary constituency in
the country has a clear majority of one
single caste. So, every candidate and party
needs to win the confidence of more
than one caste and community to win
elections.

Clearly, while caste matters in

electoral politics, so do many other
factors. The voters have strong
attachment to political parties which is
often stronger than their attachment to
their caste or community. People within
the same caste or community have
different interests depending on their
economic condition. Rich and poor or
men and women from the same caste
often vote very differently. Peoples
assessment of the performance of the
government and the popularity rating of
the leaders matter and are often decisive
in elections.

Politics in caste
We have so far looked at what caste does
to politics. But it does not mean that there
is only a one-way relation between caste
and politics. Politics too influences the
caste system and caste identities by
bringing them into the political arena.

No party wins the votes of all the

voters of a caste or community. When
people say that a caste is a vote bank
of one party, it usually means that a large
proportion of the voters from that caste
vote for that party.
Many political parties may put up
candidates from the same caste (if that
caste is believed to dominate the
electorate in a particular constituency).
Some voters have more than one
candidate from their caste while many
voters have no candidate from their
caste.

The ruling party and the sitting MP

or MLA frequently lose elections in our
country. That could not have happened
if all castes and communities were
frozen in their political preferences.

Ajith Ninan - India Today Book of Cartoons

Do you think that political leaders are right to treat people belonging
to a caste as vote banks?

53

Thus, it is not politics that gets casteridden, it is the caste that gets politicised.
This takes several forms:

Each caste group tries to become

bigger by incorporating within it
neighbouring castes or sub-castes which
were earlier excluded from it.

Various caste groups are required to

enter into a coalition with other castes or
communities and thus enter into a
dialogue and negotiation.

New kinds of caste groups have

come up in the political arena like
backward and forward caste groups.

Thus, caste plays different kinds of

roles in politics. In some situations,
expression of caste differences in politics
gives many disadvantaged communities
the space to demand their share of
power. In this sense-caste politics has
helped people from Dalits and OBC
castes to gain better access to decision
making. Several political and non-political
organisations have been demanding and
agitating for an end to discrimination
against particular castes, for more dignity
and more access to land, resources and
opportunities.

At the same time exclusive attention

to caste can produce negative results as
well. As in the case of religion, politics
based on caste identity alone is not very
healthy in a democracy. It can divert
attention from other pressing issues like
poverty, development and corruption. In
some cases caste division leads to
tensions, conflict and even violence.

54

1.

Ment ion different aspect s of life in which wom en are discrim inat ed
or disadvant aged in I ndia.

2.

St at e different form s of com m unal polit ics wit h one exam ple each.

3.

St at e how cast e inequalit ies are st ill cont inuing in I ndia.

4.

St at e t w o reasons t o say t hat cast e alone cannot det erm ine

elect ion result s in I ndia.

5.

What is t he st at us of wom ens represent at ion in I ndias legislat ive

bodies?

6.

Ment ion any t wo const it ut ional provisions t hat m ake I ndia a

secular st at e.

7.

When we speak of gender divisions, we usually refer t o:

( a) Biological difference bet ween m en and wom en
( b) Unequal roles assigned by t he societ y t o m en and wom en
( c) Unequal child sex rat io
( d) Absence of vot ing right s for wom en in dem ocracies

8 . I n I ndia seat s are reserved for wom en in

( a) Lok Sabha
( b) St at e legislat ive assem blies
( c) Cabinet s
( d) Panchayat i Raj bodies
9 . Consider t he following st at em ent s on t he m eaning of com m unal
polit ics. Com m unal polit ics is based on t he belief t hat :
A. One religion is superior t o t hat of ot hers.
B. People belonging t o different religions can live t oget her happily
as equal cit izens.
C. Followers of a part icular religion const it ut e one com m unit y.
D. St at e power cannot be used t o est ablish t he dom inat ion of
one religious group over ot hers.
Which of t he st at em ent s is/ ar e cor r ect ?
( a) A, B, C, and D ( b) A, B, and D ( c) A and C

( d) B and D

10. Which am ong t he following st at em ent s about I ndias Const it ut ion

is wrong? I t
( a) prohibit s discrim inat ion on grounds of religion.
( b) gives official st at us t o one religion.
( c) provides t o all individuals freedom t o profess any religion.
( d) ensures equalit y of cit izens wit hin religious com m unit ies.

11. Social divisions based on _________ are peculiar t o I ndia.

55

12. Mat ch List I wit h List I I and select t he correct answer using t he
codes given below t he List s:
List I
1.
2.
3.
4.

( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)

56

List I I

A person who believes in equal right s

and opport unit ies for wom en and m en
A person who says t hat religion is t he
principal basis of com m unit y

B. Fem inist

A person who t hinks t hat cast e is t he

principal basis of com m unit y

C. Secular ist

A person who does not discrim inat e

ot hers on t he basis of religious beliefs

D. Cast iest

1
B
B
D
C

2
C
A
C
A

3
A
D
A
B

4
D
C
B
D

A. Com m unalist

P
57

P
Do you remember the story of the
triumph of democracy in Poland? We
studied it last year in the first chapter
of class IX. The story reminded us
about the role played by the people
in the making of democracy. Let us
read two recent stories of that kind
and see how power is exercised in
democracy.

Movement for democracy in

Nepal
Nepal witnessed an extraordinary
popular movement in April 2006. The
movement was aimed at restoring
democracy. Nepal, you might recall, was
one of the third wave countries that had
won democracy in 1990. Although the

58

king formally remained the head of the

state, the real power was exercised by
popularly elected representatives. King
Birendra, who has accepted this transition
from absolute monarchy to constitutional
monarchy, was killed in a mysterious
massacre of the royal family in 2001.
King Gyanendra, the new king of Nepal,
was not prepared to accept democratic
rule. He took advantage of the weakness
and unpopularity of the democratically
elected government. In February 2005,
the king dismissed the then Prime Minister
and dissolved the popularly elected
Parliament. The movement of April
2006 was aimed at regaining popular
control over the government from
the king.

 Min Bajarachya

Political parties and people of Nepal in a rally demanding restoration of democracy in their country

All the major political parties in the

parliament formed a Seven Party
Alliance (SPA) and called for a four day
strike in Kathmandu, the countrys capital.
This protest soon turned into an
indefinite strike in which M AOIST
insurgents and various other
organisations joined hands. People defied
curfew and took to the streets. The
security forces found themselves unable
to take on more than a lakh people who
gathered almost every day to demand
restoration of democracy. The number
of protesters reached between three to
five lakhs on 21 April and they served
an ultimatum to the king. The leaders
of the movement rejected the halfhearted concessions made by the king.
They stuck to their demand for

restoration of parliament, power to

an all-party government and a new
constituent assembly.
On 24 April 2004, the last day of
the ultimatum, the king was forced to
concede all the three demands. The SPA
chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new
Prime Minister of the interim
government. The restored parliament
met and passed laws taking away most
of the powers of the king. The SPA and
the Maoists came to an understanding
about how the new Constituent
Assembly was going to be elected. This
struggle came to be known as Nepals
second movement for democracy. The
struggle of the Nepali people is a source
of inspiration to democrats all over
the world.

Maoists: Those
communists who believe
in the ideology of Mao, the
leader of the Chinese
revolution. They seek to
overthrow the government
through an armed
revolution so as to
establish the rule of the
peasants and workers.

59

Bolivias Water War

The story of Poland and that of Nepal
apply to the struggle for establishing or
restoring democracy. But the role of
popular struggles does not come to an
end with the establishment of democracy.
Peoples successful struggle against
privatisation of water in Bolivia reminds
us that popular struggles are integral to
the working of democracy.
Bolivia is a poor country in Latin
America. The World Bank pressurised the
government to give up its control of
municipal water supply. The government
sold these rights for the city of
Cochabamba to a multi-national
company (MNC). The company
immediately increased the price of water
by four times. Many people received
monthly water bill of Rs 1000 in a
country where average income is around
Rs 5000 a month. This led to a
spontaneous popular protest.

60

Are you
suggest ing t hat
st rike, dharna,
bandh and
dem onstration
are a good t hing?
I t hought it
happened only in
our count ry,
because we are
not a m at ure
dem ocracy yet .

In January 2000, a new alliance of

labour, human rights and community
leaders organised a successful four-day
general strike in the city. The government
agreed to negotiate and the strike was
called off. Yet nothing happened. The
police resorted to brutal repression when
the agitation was started again in February.
Another strike followed in April and the
government imposed martial law. But the
power of the people forced the officials
of the MNC to flee the city and made
the government concede to all the
demands of the protesters. The contract
with the MNC was cancelled and water
supply was restored to the municipality
at old rates. This came to be known as
Bolivias water war.

Democracy and popular

struggles
These two stories are from very different
contexts. The movement in Nepal was
to establish democracy, while the struggle
in Bolivia involved claims on an elected,
democratic government. The popular
struggle in Bolivia was about one specific
policy, while the struggle in Nepal was
about the foundations of the countrys
politics. Both these struggles were
successful but their impact was at
different levels.
Despite these differences, both the
stories share some elements which are
relevant to the study of the past and
future of democracies. Both these are
instances of political conflict that led to
popular struggles. In both cases the
struggle involved mass mobilisation.
Public demonstration of mass support
clinched the dispute. Finally, both
instances involved critical role of political
organisations. If you recall the first
chapter of class IX textbook, this is how
democracy has evolved all over the
world. We can therefore draw a few
conclusions from these examples:

Democracy evolves through

popular struggles. It is possible that some
significant decisions may take place
through consensus and may not involve
any conflict at all. But that would be an
exception. Defining moments of
democracy usually involve conflict
between those groups who have
exercised power and those who aspire
for a share in power. These moments
come when the country is going through
transition to democracy, expansion of
democracy or deepening of democracy.

Democratic conflict is resolved

through mass mobilisation. Sometimes

it is possible that the conflict is resolved

by using the existing institutions like the
parliament or the judiciary. But when
there is a deep dispute, very often these
institutions themselves get involved in the
dispute. The resolution has to come
from outside, from the people.

These conflicts and mobilisations are

based on new political organisations.

True, there is an element of spontaneity
in all such historic moments. But the
spontaneous public participation
becomes effective with the help of
organised politics. There can be many
agencies of organised politics. These
include political parties, pressure groups
and movement groups.

Does it m ean t hat

whichever side
m anages t o
m obilise a bigger
crowd get s away
wit h what ever it
want s? Are we
saying t hat Might
is Right in a
dem ocracy?

I n 1984, t he Karnat aka governm ent set up a com pany called Karnat aka Pulpwood
Lim it ed. About 30,000 hect ares of land was given virt ually free t o t his com pany for 40
years. Much of t his land was used by local farm ers as grazing land for t heir cat t le.
However t he com pany began t o plant eucalypt us t rees on t his land, which could be used
for m aking paper pulp. I n 1987, a m ovem ent called Kit t iko- Hachchiko ( m eaning, pluck and
plant ) st art ed a non- violent prot est , where people plucked t he eucalypt us plant s and
plant ed saplings of t rees t hat were useful t o t he people.
Suppose you belong t o any of t he following groups, what argum ent s would you put
forward t o defend your side: a local farm er, an environm ent al act ivist , a governm ent
official working in t his com pany or j ust a consum er of paper.

Let us go back to our two examples and
look at the organisations that made these
struggles successful. We noted that the
call for indefinite strike was given by the
SPA or the Seven Party Alliance in Nepal.
This alliance included some big parties
that had some members in the
Parliament. But the SPA was not the only
organisation behind this mass upsurge.
The protest was joined by the Nepalese
Communist Party (Maoist) which did not
believe in parliamentary democracy. This

party was involved in an armed struggle

against the Nepali government and had
established its control over large parts
of Nepal.
The strug gle involved many
organisations other than political parties.
All the major labour unions and their
federations joined this movement. Many
other organisations like the organisation
of the indigenous people, teachers,
lawyers and human rights groups
extended support to the movement.

P
61

The protest against water

privatisation in Bolivia was not led by
any political party. It was led by an
organisation called FEDECOR. This
organisation comprised of local
professionals, including engineers and
environmentalists. They were supported
by a federation of farmers who relied
on irrigation, the confederation of
factory workers unions, middle class
students from the the University of
Cochabamba and the citys growing
population of homeless street children.
The movement was supported by the
Socialist Party. In 2006, this party came
to power in Bolivia.

I dont like t his

word
m obilisation.
Makes it feel as if
people are like
sheep.

From both these examples we can

see that in a democracy several different
kinds of organisations work behind any
big struggle. These organisations play

their role in two ways. One obvious way

of influencing the decisions in a
democracy is direct participation in
competitive politics. This is done by
creating parties, contesting elections and
forming governments. But every citizen
does not participate so directly. They
may not have the desire, the need or
the skills to take part in direct political
activity other than voting.
There are many indirect ways in
which people can get governments to
listen to their demands or their point of
view. They could do so by forming an
organisation and undertaking activities to
promote their interest or their viewpoint.
These are called interest groups or
pressure groups. Sometimes people
decide to act together without forming
organisations.

Keshav - The Hindu

Governments initiate schemes and programme to alleviate the suffering of the poor
and meet their basic needs. But poverty remains in the country? What could be the
reasons for such a situation?

62


Pressure groups are organisations that
attempt to influence government
policies. But unlike political parties,
pressure groups do not aim to directly
control or share political power. These
organisations are formed when people
with common occupation, interest,
aspirations or opinions come together
in order to achieve a common objective.
In the course of the discussion
above we came across entities that are
not quite an organisation. The struggle
in Nepal was called a movement for
democracy. We often hear the word

peoples movement to describe many

forms of collective action: Narmada
Bachao Andolan, Movement for Right
to Information, Anti-liquor Movement,
Womens Movement, Environmental
Movement. Like an interest group, a
movement also attempts to influence
politics rather than directly take part in
electoral competition. But unlike the
interest groups, movements have a
loose organisation. Their decision
making is more informal and flexible.
They depend much more on
spontaneous mass participation than an
interest group.

Can you identify the

pressure groups
functioning in the news
clippings given here?
What demand are they
making?

P
63

Sectional interest groups and

public interest groups
Usually interest groups seek to promote
the interests of a particular section or
group of society. Trade unions, business
associations and professional (lawyers,
doctors, teachers, etc.) bodies are some
examples of this type. They are sectional
because they represent a section of
society: workers, employees, businesspersons, industrialists, followers of a
religion, caste group, etc. Their principal
concern is the betterment and well being
of their members, not society in general.
Sometimes these organisations are
not about representing the interest of one
section of society. They represent some
common or general interest that needs
to be defended. The members of the
organisation may not benefit from the
cause that the organisation represents. The
Bolivian organisation FEDECOR is an
example of that kind of an organisation.
In the context of Nepal, we noted the
participation of human rights
organisations. We read about these
organisations in class IX.

w kipedia.com

Land rights protest: farmers of West Java, Indonesia. On June 2004,

about 15,000 landless farmers from West Java, travelled to Jakarta,
the capital city. They came with their families to demand land reform, to
insist on the return of their farms. Demonstrators chanted, No land, No
vote declaring that they would boycott Indonesias first presidential
election if no candidate backed land reform.

64

These second type of groups are

called promotional groups or public
interest groups. They promote collective
rather than selective good. They aim to
help groups other than their own
members. For example, a group fighting
against bonded labour fights not for itself
but for those who are suffering under
such bondage. In some instances the
members of a public interest group may
undertake activity that benefits them as
well as others too. For example,
BAMCEF (Backward and Minorities
Community Employees Federation) is an
organisation largely made up of
government employees that campaigns
against caste discrimination. It addresses

the problems of its members who suffer

discrimination. But its principal concern
is with social justice and social equality
for the entire society.

Movement groups
As in the case of interest groups, the
groups involved with movements also
include a very wide variety. The various
examples mentioned above already
indicate a simple distinction. Most of
the movements are issue specific
movements that seek to achieve a single
objective within a limited time frame.
Others are more general or generic
movements that seek to achieve a broad
goal in the very long term.
The Nepalese movement for
democracy arose with the specific
objective of reversing the kings orders
that led to suspension of democracy. In
India, Narmada Bachao Andolan is a
good example of this kind of
movement. The movement started with

the specific issue of the people displaced

by the creation of Sardar Sarovar
dam on the Narmada river. Its objective
was to stop the dam from being
constructed. Gradually it became a
wider movement that questioned all
such big dams and the model of
development that required such dams.
Movements of this kind tend to have a
clear leadership and some organisation.
But their active life is usually short.
These single-issue movements can
be contrasted with movements that are
long term and involve more than one
issue. The environmental movement and
the womens movement are examples
of such movements. There is no single
organisation that controls or guides such
movements. Environmental movement
is a label for a large number of
organisations and issue-specific
movements. All of these have separate
organisation, independent leadership
and often different views on policy

Social movements and

pressure groups try to
mobilise citizens in
many ways. The collage
here show some of
them.

65

 Surendera - The Hindu

National Alliance for Peoples

Movements (NAPM) is an organisation
of organisations. Various movement
groups struggling on specific issues are
constituents of this loose organisation
which coordinates the activities of a
large number of peoples movements
in our country.
How do they influence politics?
Pressure groups and movements exert
influence on politics in a variety of ways:

The Right to Information

Act is one of the recent
legislations passed by
Parliament? Who is
shown as obstructing the
implementation of the
legislation?

related matters. Yet all of these share a

broad objective and have a similar
approach. That is why they are called a
movement. Sometimes these broad
movements have a loose umbrella
organisation as well. For example, the

They try to gain public support and

sympathy for their goals and their activity
by carrying out information campaigns,
organising meetings, file petitions, etc.
Most of these groups try to influence
the media into giving more attention to
these issues.

They often organise protest activity

like strikes or disrupting government

66

What are the social movements listed in these news clippings? What efforts are they
making? Which sections are they trying to mobilise?

programmes. Workers organisations,

employees associations and most of the
movement groups often resort to these
tactics in order to force the government
to take note of their demand.

Business groups often employ

professional lobbyists or sponsor
expensive advertisements. Some persons
from pressure groups or movement
groups may participate in official bodies
and committees that offer advice to the
government.
While interest groups and movements
do not directly engage in party politics,
they seek to exert influence on political
parties. Most of the movement groups
take a political stance without being a party.
They have political ideology and political
position on major issues. The relationship
between political parties and pressure
groups can take different forms, some
direct and others very indirect:

In some instances the pressure

groups are either formed or led by the
leaders of political parties or act as
extended arms of political parties. For
example, most trade unions and students
organisations in India are either
established by or affiliated to one or the
other major political party. Most of the
leaders of such pressure groups are
usually activists and leaders of party.

Sometimes political parties grow out

of movements. For example, when the
Assam movement led by students against
the foreigners came to an end, it led to
the formation of the Asom Gana
Parishad. The roots of parties like the
DMK and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu
can be traced to a long drawn social
reform movement during the 1930 and
1940s.

In most cases the relationship

between parties and interest or
movement groups is not so direct. They
often take positions that are opposed to
each other. Yet they are in dialogue and
negotiation. Movement groups have
raised new issues that have been taken
up by political parties. Most of the new
leadership of political parties comes
from interest or movement groups.

Is their influence healthy?

It may initially appear that it is not healthy
for groups that promote interest of one
section to have influence in democracy.
A democracy must look after the interest
of all, not just one section. Also, it may
seem that these groups wield power
without responsibility. Political parties
have to face the people in elections, but
these groups are not accountable to the
people. Pressure groups and movements
may not get their funds and support

Follow t he news on any news TV channel for one week. Make a not e of news relat ed
t o pressure groups or m ovem ent s represent ing t he following sect ors or sect ions: farm ers,
t raders, labour, indust ry, environm ent and wom en. Which of t hese are m ent ioned m ost on
t elevision news? Which sect ions or int erest s get m ent ioned t he least ? You m ay follow a
newspaper if you dont have TV at hom e.

P
67

The Green Belt Movem ent has plant ed 30 m illion t rees across Kenya. I t s
leader Wangari Maat hai is very disappoint ed wit h t he response of governm ent
officials and polit icians:
I n t he 1970s and 1980s, as I was encouraging farm ers t o plant t rees on t heir
land, I also discovered t hat corrupt governm ent agent s were responsible for m uch
of t he deforest at ion by illegally selling off land and t rees t o
well- connect ed developers. I n t he early 1990s, t he
livelihoods, t he right s and even t he lives of m any Kenyans in
t he Rift Valley were lost when elem ent s of President Daniel
Arap Mois governm ent encouraged et hnic com m unit ies t o
at t ack one anot her over land. Support ers of t he ruling part y
got t he land, while t hose in t he pro- dem ocracy m ovem ent
were displaced. This was one of t he governm ent s ways of
ret aining power; if com m unit ies were kept busy fight ing over
land, t hey would have less opport unit y t o dem and dem ocracy.

Alen Lauzan Falcon - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

I n t he above passage what relat ionship do you see bet ween

dem ocracy and social m ovem ent s? How should t his m ovem ent
respond t o t he governm ent ?

from the people. Sometimes, pressure

groups with small public support but lots
of money can highjack public discussion
in favour of their narrow agenda.
On balance, however, pressure
groups and movements have deepened
democracy. Putting pressure on the rulers
is not an unhealthy activity in a democracy
as long as everyone gets this opportunity.
Governments can often come under
undue pressure from a small group of
rich and powerful people. Public
interest groups and movements
perform a useful role of countering
this undue influence and reminding

68

This cartoon is called News-no-news.

Who is most often visible in the media?
Whom are we most likely to hear about
in newspapers?

the government of the needs and

concerns of ordinary citizens.
Even the sectional interest groups
play a valuable role. Where different
groups function actively, no one single
group can achieve dominance over
society. If one group brings pressure on
government to make policies in its
favour, another will bring counter
pressure not to make policies in the way
the first group desires. The government
gets to hear about what different sections
of the population want. This leads to a
rough balance of power and
accommodation of conflicting interests.

1.

I n what ways do pressure groups and m ovem ent s exert influence

on polit ics?

2.

Describe t he form s of relat ionship bet ween pressure groups and

polit ical part ies?

3.

Explain how t he act ivit ies of pressure groups are useful in t he

funct ioning of a dem ocrat ic governm ent .

4.

What is a pressure group? Give a few exam ples.

5.

Wh at is t h e dif f er en ce bet w een a pr essu r e gr ou p an d a

p olit ical p ar t y ?

6.

Organisat ions t hat undert ake act ivit ies t o prom ot e t he int erest s
of specific social sect ions such as w orkers, em ployees, t eachers,
and lawyers are called _____________________ groups.

7.

Which am ong t he following is t he special feat ure t hat

dist inguishes a pressure group from a polit ical part y?
( a) Part ies t ake polit ical st ances, while pressure groups do not
bot her about polit ical issues.
( b) Pressure groups are confined t o a few people, while part ies
involve larger num ber of people.
( c) Pressure groups do not seek t o get int o power, while polit ical
part ies do.
( d) Pressure groups do not seek t o m obilise people, while part ies

8.

Mat ch List I ( organisat ions and st ruggles) wit h List I I and select
t he correct answer using t he codes given below t he list s: do.

1.

List I

List I I

Organisat ions t hat seek t o prom ot e

t he int erest s of a part icular sect ion
or group

A. Movem ent

2.

Organisat ions t hat seek t o prom ot e

com m on int erest

B. Polit ical part ies

St ruggles launched for t he resolut ion

of a social problem wit h or wit hout
an organisat ional st ruct ure

C. Sect ional int er est

groups

Organisat ions t hat m obilise people

wit h a view t o win polit ical power

D. Public int erest

groups

3.

4.

( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)

1
C
C
D
B

2
D
D
C
C

3
B
A
B
D

4
A
B
A
A

69

9.

Mat ch List I wit h List I I and select t he correct answer using t he

codes given below t he list s:
List I

List I I

1.

Pressure group

A. Narm ada Bachao Andolan

2.

Long t erm m ovem ent

B. Asom Gana Parishad

3.

Single issue m ovem ent

C. Wom ens m ovem ent

4.

Polit ical par t y

D. Fert ilizer dealers associat ion

( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)

1
D
B
C
B

2
C
A
D
D

3
A
D
B
C

4
B
C
A
A

10. Consider t he following st at em ent s about pressure groups and

par t ies.
A. Pressure groups are organised expression of t he int erest s and
v iew s of specific social sect ions.
B. Pressure groups t ake posit ions on polit ical issues.
C. All pressure groups are polit ical part ies.
Which of t he st at em ent s given above are correct ?
( a) A, B, and C ( b) A and B ( c) B and C ( d) A and C

11. Mewat is one of t he m ost backward areas in Haryana. I t used t o

be a part of dist rict Gurgaon and Faridabad. The people of Mewat
felt t hat t he area will get bet t er at t ent ion if it were t o becom e a
separ at e dist r ict . But polit ical par t ies w er e indiffer ent t o t his
sent im ent . The dem and for a separ at e dist r ict w as r aised by
Mewat Educat ional and Social Organisat ion and Mewat Sakshart a
Sam it i in 1996. Lat er Mewat Vikas Sabha was founded in 2000 and
car r ied out a ser ies of public aw ar eness cam paigns. This for ced
bot h t he m aj or part ies, Congress and t he I ndian Nat ional Lok Dal,
t o announe t heir support for t he new dist rict before t he assem bly
elect ions held in February 2005. The new dist rict cam e int o
exist ence in July 2005.

I n t his ex am ple w hat is t he r elat ionship t hat y ou obser v e am ong

m ovem ent , polit ical part ies and t he governm ent ? Can you t hink of an

exam ple t hat shows a relat ionship different from t his one?

70



t

t


t

t s



t

P
71


So, you agree
wit h m e. Part ies
are part ial,
part isan and lead
t o part it ions.
Part ies do
not hing but
divide people.
That is t heir real
funct ion!

Political parties are easily one of the most

visible institutions in a democracy. For
most ordinary citizens, democracy is equal
to political parties. If you travel to remote
parts of our country and speak to the
less educated citizens, you could come
across people who may not know
anything about our Constitution or about
the nature of our government. But
chances are that they would know
something about our political parties. At
the same time this visibility does not mean
popularity. Most people tend to be very
critical of political parties. They tend to

blame parties for all that is wrong with

our democracy and our political life.
Parties have become identified with
social and political divisions.
Therefore, it is natural to ask do
we need political parties at all? About
hundred years ago there were few
countries of the world that had any
political party. Now there are few that
do not have parties. Why did political
parties become so omnipresent in
democracies all over the world? Let us
first answer what political parties are and
what they do, before we say why we need
them.

(1) M Govarthan (2) A Muralidharan (3) M Moorthy (4) T Singaravelou, The Hindu

Meaning

(1)

(3)

(2)

72

A political party is a group of people

who come together to contest elections
and hold power in the government. They
agree on some policies and programmes
for the society with a view to promote
the collective good. Since there can be
different views on what is good for all,

Election Commission has officially banned wall

writing by parties during election times. Most
political parties argue that was the cheapest way for
their campaign. These election times used to
create amazing graffiti on the walls. Here are some
examples from Tamil Nadu.

(4)

 RK Laxman - Brushing up the years

parties try to persuade people why their

policies are better than others. They seek
to implement these policies by winning
popular support through elections.
Thus, parties reflect fundamental
political divisions in a society. Parties are
about a part of the society and thus
involve PARTISANSHIP. Thus a party is
known by which part it stands for, which
policies it supports and whose interests
it upholds. A political party has three
components:
the leaders,
the active members and
the followers

Functions
What does a political party do? Basically,
political parties fill political offices and
exercise political power. Parties do so
by performing a series of functions:
1 Parties contest elections. In most
democracies, elections are fought mainly

among the candidates put up by political

parties. Parties select their candidates in
different ways. In some countries, such
as the USA, members and supporters
of a party choose its candidates. Now
more and more countries are following
this method. In other countries like India,
top party leaders choose candidates for
contesting elections.
2 Parties put forward different
policies and programmes and the
voters choose from them. Each of us
may have different opinions and views
on what policies are suitable for the
society. But no government can handle
such a large variety of views. In a
democracy, a large number of similar
opinions have to be grouped together
to provide a direction in which policies
can be formulated by the governments.
This is what the parties do. A party
reduces a vast multitude of opinions into

Partisan: A person
who is strongly
committed to a party,
group or faction.
Partisanship is marked
by a tendency to take a
side and inability to take
a balanced view on an
issue.

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73

a few basic positions which it supports.

A government is expected to base
its policies on the line taken by the
RULING PARTY.
3 Parties play a decisive role in making
laws for a country. Formally, laws are
debated and passed in the legislature. But
since most of the members belong to a
party, they go by the direction of the
party leadership, irrespective of their
personal opinions.
4 Parties form and run governments.
As we noted last year, the big policy
decisions are taken by political executive
that comes from the political parties.
Parties recruit leaders, trains them and
then make them ministers to run the
government in the way they want.

Okay, grant ed
t hat we cant live
wit hout polit ical
part ies. But t ell
m e how do we
live wit h t he kind
of polit ical part ies
we have?

5 Those parties that lose in the elections

play the role of opposition to the parties
in power, by voicing different views and
criticising government for its failures or
wrong policies. Opposition parties also
mobilise opposition to the government.
6 Parties shape public opinion. They
raise and highlight issues. Parties have
lakhs of members and activists spread
all over the country. Many of the pressure
groups are the extensions of political
parties among different sections of
society. Parties sometimes also launch
movements for the resolution of
problems faced by people. Often
opinions in the society crystallise on the
lines parties take.

Ruling Party: Political

party that runs
government.

74

7 Parties provide people access to

government machinery and welfare
schemes implemented by governments.
For an ordinary citizen it is easy to
approach a local party leader than a
government officer. That is why they feel
close to parties even when they do not
fully trust them. Parties have to be

responsive to peoples needs and

demands. Otherwise people can reject
those parties in the next elections.

Necessity
This list of functions in a sense answers
the question asked above: we need
political parties because they perform all
these functions. But we still need to ask
why modern democracies cannot exist
without political parties. We can
understand the necessity of political
parties by imagining a situation without
parties. Every candidate in the elections
will be independent. So no one will be
able to make any promises to the people
about any major policy changes. The
government may be formed, but its
utility will remain ever uncertain. Elected
representative will be accountable to their
constituency for what they do in the
locality. But no one will be responsible
for how the country run.
We can also think about it by looking
at the non-party based elections to the
panchayat in many states. Although, the
parties do not contest formally, it is
generally noticed that the village gets split
into more than one faction, each of
which puts up a panel of its candidates.
This is exactly what the party does. That
is the reason we find political parties in
almost all countries of the world,
whether these countries are big or small,
old or new, developed or developing.
The rise of political parties is directly
linked to the emergence of
representative democracies. As we have
seen, large scale societies need
representative democracy. As societies
became large and complex, they also
needed some agency to gather different
views on various issues and to present
these to the government. They needed

some way to bring various

representatives together so that a
responsible government could be
formed. They needed a mechanism to
support or restrain the government,

make policies, justify or oppose them.

Political parties fulfill these needs that
every representative government has.
We can say that parties are a necessary
condition for a democracy.

(1) C V Subrahmanyan (2) K Gopinathan

(3) A Chakrabarty, The Hindu

Cat egorise t hese phot ographs by t he funct ions of polit ical part ies t hey
illust rat e. Find one phot ograph or news clipping from your own area for
each of t he funct ions list ed above.

1: Activists of BJP Mahila Morcha demonstrating against hike in prices of onions and LPG in
Visakhapatnam
2: Minister distributes Rs One lakh cheque to the hooch victims family at their houses.
3: Activists of CPI (M), CPI, OGP and JD (S) take out a rally in Bhubaneswar to protest against
POSCO, the Korean steel company for being permitted by the State Government to export iron
ore from Orissa to feed steel plants in China and Korea

In a democracy any group of citizens is
free to form a political party. In this
formal sense there are a large number
of political parties in each country. More
than 750 parties are registered with the
Election Commission of India. But not
all these parties are serious contenders in
the elections. Usually only a handful of

parties are effectively in the race to win

elections and form the government. So
the question then is: how many major
or effective parties are good for a
democracy?
In some countries only one party is
allowed to control and run the government.
These are called one-party systems.

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75

A
moral force
in
politics?

What did Kishenj i m ean by an alt ernat ive polit ical form at ion? The
quest ion cam e up in a conversat ion bet ween Sudha, Karuna,
Shaheen and Gracy. All four wom en had led very powerful peoples
m ovem ent s in different part s of t he count ry. They were m eet ing in
a village in Orissa, away from t heir day- t o- day st ruggles, t o t hink afresh t he fut ure of
peoples m ovem ent s.
The discussion nat urally t urned t o Kishenj i, who was regarded as a friend, polit ical
philosopher and m oral guide by all t he m ovem ent groups in t he count ry. He had argued
t hat peoples m ovem ent should em brace polit ics openly. His argum ent was sim ple yet
powerful. Movem ent s focused on a single issue are suit able as long as we wish t o achieve
lim it ed changes in a part icular aspect of life. But if we wish t o bring about a fundam ent al
social t ransform at ion, or basic change even in one aspect of life, we would need a polit ical
organisat ion. Peoples m ovem ent m ust est ablish a new polit ical form at ion t o act as a m oral
force in polit ics. This was an urgent t ask, he said, because all t he exist ing polit ical part ies
had becom e irrelevant for social t ransform at ion.

But Kishenj i never clarified what t hat organisat ion will be. He t alked of an alt ernat ive
polit ical form at ion or a t hird force in polit ics. But did he m ean a polit ical part y? said
Gracy. She felt t hat an old st yle polit ical part y was not t he right inst rum ent for social
change.
Sudha agreed wit h her. I have t hought about it several t im es. I agree t hat all t he
st ruggles t hat we are involved wit h t he st ruggle against displacem ent , against
globalisat ion, against cast e and gender oppression and for an alt ernat ive kind of
developm ent all t his is polit ical. But t he m om ent we form a part y, all t he goodwill we
have earned all t hese years will be lost . People will t hink of us as no different from ot her
polit icians.
Besides, added Karuna, we have seen t hat a lot
can be achieved by put t ing pressure on t he
exist ing polit ical part ies. We t ried put t ing up
candidat es in panchayat elect ions, but t he result s
were not very encouraging. People respect our
work, t hey even adore us, but when it com es t o
vot ing t hey go for t he est ablished polit ical
part ies.
Shaheen did not agree wit h t hem : Let us be very
clear. Kishenj i want ed all t he peoples m ovem ent s
t o forge a new polit ical part y. Of course he
want ed t his part y t o be a different kind of a part y.
He was not for polit ical alt ernat ives, but for an
alt ernat ive kind of polit ics.

76

Zuban

Kishenj i is no m ore. W hat w ould be your

a dvice t o t he se four a ct ivist s? Should t he y
form a new polit ica l pa rt y? Ca n a polit ica l
pa r t y be com e a m or a l for ce in polit ics? W ha t
should t ha t pa rt y be lik e?

In Class IX, we noted that in China, only

the Communist Party is allowed to rule.
Although, legally speaking, people are
free to form political parties, it does not
happen because the electoral system does
not permit free competition for power.
We cannot consider one party system as
a good option because this is not a
democratic option. Any democratic
system must allow at least two parties
to compete in elections and provide a
fair chance for the competing parties to
come to power.
In some countries, power usually
changes between two main parties.
Several other parties may exist, contest
elections and win a few seats in the
national legislatures. But only the two
main parties have a serious chance of
winning majority of seats to form
government. Such a party system is called
two-party system. The United States of
America and the United Kingdom are
examples of two-party system.
If several parties compete for
power, and more than two parties
have a reasonable chance of coming
to power either on their own strength
or in alliance with others, we call it a
multi-party system. Thus in India, we
have a multi-party system. In this
system, the government is formed by
various parties coming together in a

coalition. When several parties in a

multi-party system join hands for the
purpose of contesting elections and
winning power, it is called an alliance
or a front. For example, in India there
were three such major alliances in 2004
parliamentary elections the National
Democratic Alliance, the United
Progressive Alliance and the Left Front.
The multi-party system often appears
very messy and leads to political
instability. At the same time, this system
allows a variety of interests and
opinions to enjoy political
representation.
So, which of these is better? Perhaps
the best answer to this very common
question is that this is not a very good
question. Party system is not something
any country can choose. It evolves over
a long time, depending on the nature of
society, its social and regional divisions,
its history of politics and its system of
elections. These cannot be changed very
quickly. Each country develops a party
system that is conditioned by its special
circumstances. For example, if India has
evolved a multi-party system, it is
because the social and geographical
diversity in such a large country is not
easily absorbed by two or even three
parties. No system is ideal for all countries
and all situations.

I dont like so
m any part ies. I t s
such a m ess. I
wonder how t he
polit icians
m anage t hese
coalit ions. I cant
even rem em ber
t he nam es of all
t he part ies.

Let us apply what we have learnt about part y syst em s t o t he various

st at es wit hin I ndia. Here are t hree m aj or t ypes of part y syst em s t hat
exist at t he St at e level. Can you find t he nam es of at least t wo St at es for each
of t hese t ypes?
Two- part y syst em
Mult i- part y syst em wit h t wo alliances
Mult i- part y syst em

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77

Popular
P p lar
participation
particip
p
arti ci p tion
tion I t is oft en said t hat polit ical part ies are facing
iinn
a crisis because t hey are very unpopular and
cit izens are indifferent t o polit ical part ies.
p
llitica
i ti ca parties
political
ar es Thet heavailable
evidence shows t hat t his belief is only
part ly t rue for I ndia. The evidence, based on a series of
large sam ple surveys conduct ed over several decades, shows
t hat :

Polit ical part ies do not enj oy m uch t rust am ong t he people in
Sout h Asia. The proport ion of t hose who say t heir t rust in polit ical
part ies is not m uch or not at all is m ore t han t hose who have
som e or great t rust .

The sam e is t rue of m ost ot her dem ocracies as well. Polit ical
part ies are one of t he least t rust ed inst it ut ions all over t he world.

Yet t he level of part icipat ion in t he act ivit ies of polit ical part ies
was fairly high. The proport ion of t hose who said t hey were
m em bers of som e polit ical part y was higher in I ndia t han m any
advanced count ries like Canada, Japan, Spain and Sout h Korea.

Over t he last t hree

decades t he proport ion of
t hose who report t o be
m em bers of polit ical part ies
in I ndia has gone up
st eadily.

The proport ion of t hose

who say t hey feel close t o
a polit ical part y has also
gone up in I ndia in t his
period.

78

Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007

 Tab - The Calgary Sun, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Crunching Numbers

Does the cartoonist reflect the data graphics shown in the

previous page?

Democracies that follow a federal system
all over the world tend to have two kinds
of political parties: parties that are present
in only one of the federal units and
parties that are present in several or all
units of the federation. This is the case in
India as well. There are some countrywide parties, which are called national
parties. These parties have their units in
various states. But by and large all these
units follow the same policies,
programmes and strategy that is decided
at the national level.
Every party in the country has to
register with the Election Commission.
While the Commission treats all parties
equally, it offers some special facilities to
large and established parties. These
parties are given a unique symbol only
the official candidates of that party can
use that election symbol. Parties that get
this privilege and some other special

facilities are recognised by the Election

Commission for this purpose. That is
why these parties are called, recognised
political parties. The Election
Commission has laid down detailed
criteria of the proportion of votes and
seats that a party must get in order to be
a recognised party. A party that secures
at least 6 per cent of the total votes in an
election to the Legislative Assembly of a
State and wins at least two seats is
recognised as a State party. A party that
secures at least six per cent of total votes
in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly
elections in four States and wins at least
four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised
as a national party.
According to this classification, there
were six national recognised parties in
the country in 2006. Let us learn
something about each of these parties.

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79

Indian National Congress

(INC): Popularly known as
the Congress Party. One of
the oldest parties of the
world. Founded in 1885 and has
experienced many splits. Played a
dominant role in Indian politics at the
national and state level for several decades
after Indias Independence. Under the
leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the party
sought to build a modern secular
democratic republic in India. Ruling
party at the centre till 1977 and then from
1980 to 1989. After 1989, its support
declined, but it continues to be present
throughout the country, cutting across
social divisions. A centrist party (neither
rightist nor leftist) in its ideological
orientation, the party espouses
secularism and welfare of weaker
sections and minorities. Supports new
economic reforms but with a human
face. Emerged as the largest party with
145 members in the Lok Sabha elections
held in 2004. Currently leads the ruling
United Progressive Alliance coalition
government at the Centre.

Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP): Founded in 1980 by
reviving the erstwhile
Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
Wants to build a strong and modern
India by drawing inspiration from Indias
ancient culture and values. Cultural
nationalism (or Hindutva) is an
important element in its conception of
Indian nationhood and politics. Wants
full territorial and political integration of
Jammu and Kashmir with India, a
uniform civil code for all people living
in the country irrespective of religion,
and ban on religious conversions. Its
support base increased substantially in
the 1990s. Earlier limited to north and

80

west and to urban areas, the party

expanded its support in the south, east,
the north-east and to rural areas. Came
to power in 1998 as the leader of the
National Democratic Alliance including
several state and regional parties. Lost
elections in 2004 and is the principal
opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP): Formed
in 1984 under the
leadership of Kanshi
Ram. Seeks to represent and secure
power for the bahujan samaj which
includes the dalits, adivasis, OBCs and
religious minorities. Draws inspiration
from the ideas and teachings of Sahu
Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Periyar
Ramaswami Naicker and Babasaheb
Ambedkar. Stands for the cause of
securing the interests and welfare of the
dalits and oppressed people. It has its
main base in the state of Uttar Pradesh
and substantial presence in neighbouring
states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Uttarakhand, Delhi and Punjab. Formed
government in Uttar Pradesh several
times by taking the support of different
parties at different times. In the Lok
Sabha elections held in 2004, it polled
about 5 per cent votes and secured 19
seats in the Lok Sabha.
Communist Party of
India - Marxist (CPI-M):
Founded in 1964.
Believes in MarxismLeninism. Supports socialism, secularism
and democracy and opposes imperialism
and communalism. Accepts democratic
elections as a useful and helpful means
for securing the objective of socioeconomic justice in India. Enjoys strong
support in West Bengal, Kerala and
Tripura, especially among the poor,

factory workers, farmers, agricultural

labourers and the intelligentsia. Critical
of the new economic policies that allow
free flow of foreign capital and goods
into the country. Has been in power in
West Bengal without a break for 30 years.
In 2004 elections, it won about 6 per
cent of votes and 43 seats in the Lok
Sabha. Currently supports the UPA
government from outside, without
joining the government.
Communist Party of
India (CPI): Formed
in 1925. Believes in
Marxism-Leninism,
secularism and democracy. Opposed to
the forces of secessionism and
communalism. Accepts parliamentary
democracy as a means of promoting
the interests of the working class, farmers
and the poor. Became weak after the
split in the party in 1964 that led to the
formation of the CPI(M). Significant
presence in the states of Kerala, West

Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and

Tamil Nadu. Its support base had
gradually declined over the years. It
secured about 1.4 per cent votes and 10
seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
Advocates the coming together of all left
parties to build a strong left front.
Currently supports UPA government
from outside.
Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP): Formed in
1999 following a split in the
Congress party. Espouses
democracy, Gandhian secularism, equity,
social justice and federalism. Wants that
high offices in government be confined
to natural born citizens of the country.
A major party in Maharashtra and has a
significant presence in Meghalaya,
Manipur and Assam. A coalition partner
in the state of Maharashtra in alliance
with the Congress. Since 2004, a member
of the United Progressive Alliance.

Other than these six parties, most of the
major parties of the country are classified
by the Election Commission as State
parties. These are commonly referred
to as regional parties. Yet these parties
need not be regional in their ideology
or outlook. Some of these parties are
all India parties that happen to have
succeeded only in some states. Parties like
the Samajwadi Party, Samata Party and
Rashtriya Janata Dal have national level
political organisation with units in several
states. Some of these parties like Biju
Janata Dal, Sikkim Democratic Front
and Mizo National Front are conscious
about their State identity.

Over the last three decades, the

number and strength of these parties has
expanded. This made the Parliament of
India politically more and more diverse.
No one national party is able to secure
on its own a majority in Lok Sabha. As
a result, the national parties are compelled
to form alliances with State parties. Since
1996, nearly every one of the State
parties has got an opportunity to be a
part of one or the other national level
coalition government. This has
contributed to the strengthening of
federalism and democracy in our
country. (See the map on the next page
for details of these parties).

P
81

82


We have seen how crucial political parties
are for the working of democracy. Since
parties are the most visible face of
democracy, it is natural that people blame
parties for whatever is wrong with the
working of democracy. All over the
world, people express strong
dissatisfaction with the failure of political
parties to perform their functions well.
This is the case in our country too.
Popular dissatisfaction and criticism has
focussed on four problem areas in the

Riber Hansson - Svenska Dagbladet, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Berlusconi Puppet Theatre

working of political parties. Political

parties need to face and overcome these
challenges in order to remain effective
instruments of democracy.
The first challenge is lack of
internal democracy within parties. All
over the world there is a tendency in
political parties towards the
concentration of power in one or few
leaders at the top. Parties do not keep
membership registers, do not hold
organisational meetings, and do not
conduct internal elections regularly.
Ordinary members of the party do not
get sufficient information on what
happens inside the party. They do not
have the means or
the connections
needed to influence
the decisions. As a
result the leaders
assume greater
power to make
decisions in the
name of the party.
Since one or few
leaders exercise
paramount power
in the party, those
who disagree with
the leadership find it

Berlusconi was the Prime

Minister of Italy. He is also
one of the top business man
in Italy. He is the leader of the
Forza Italia founded in 1993.
His company owns TV
channels, the most important
publishing company, a foot
ball club (AC Milan) and a
bank. This cartoon was
made during the last
elections.

Why dont part ies

give enough
t icket s t o
wom en? I s t hat
also due t o lack
of int ernal
dem ocracy?

P
83

difficult to continue in the party. More

than loyalty to party principles and
policies, personal loyalty to the leader
becomes more important.
The second challenge of dynastic
succession is related to the first one. Since
most political parties do not practice
open and transparent procedures for
their functioning, there are very few ways
for an ordinary worker to rise to the top
in a party. Those who happen to be the
leaders are in a position of unfair
advantage to favour people close to
them or even their family members. In
many parties, the top positions are always
controlled by members of one family.
This is unfair to other members of that
party. This is also bad for democracy,
since people who do not have adequate
experience or popular support come to
occupy positions of power. This
tendency is present in some measure all
over the world, including in some of
the older democracies.

Huffaker - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

84

The third challenge is about the

growing role of money and muscle
power in parties, especially during
elections. Since parties are focussed only
on winning elections, they tend to use
short-cuts to win elections. They tend to
nominate those candidates who have or
can raise lots of money. Rich people and
companies who give funds to the parties
tend to have influence on the policies and
decisions of the party. In some cases,
parties support criminals who can win
elections. Democrats all over the world
are worried about the increasing role of
rich people and big companies in
democratic politics.
The fourth challenge is that very
often parties do not seem to offer a
meaningful choice to the voters. In
order to offer meaningful choice, parties
must be significantly different. In recent
years there has been a decline in the
ideological differences among parties in
most parts of the world. For example,
the difference between the Labour Party
and the Conservative Party in Britain is
very little. They agree on more
fundamental aspects but differ
only in details on how policies
are to be framed and
implemented. In our country
too, the differences among all the
major parties on the economic
policies have reduced. Those
who want really different policies
have no option available to them.
Sometimes people cannot even
elect very different leaders either,
because the same set of leaders
keep shifting from one party to
another.

 Manjul - DNA

Most cart oons caricat ure polit icians. From t he cart oons ( on page 83 t o 85) , can
you ident ify which of t he challenges described in t his sect ion is being highlight ed
in t hese cart oons. They relat e t o I t aly, US and I ndia.

In order to face these challenges, political
parties need to be reformed. The
question is: Are political parties willing
to reform? If they are willing, what has
prevented them from reforming so far?
If they are not willing, is it possible to
force them to reform? Citizens all over
the world face this question. This is not
a simple question to answer. In a
democracy, the final decision is made by
leaders who represent political parties.
People can replace them, but only by
another set of party leaders. If all of

them do not wish to reform, how can

anyone force them to change?
Let us look at some of the recent
efforts and suggestions in our country
to reform political parties and its leaders:

The Constitution was amended to

prevent elected MLAs and MPs from
changing parties. This was done because
many elected representatives were
indulging in DEFECTION in order to
become ministers or for cash rewards.
Now the law says that if any MLA or

Defection: Changing
party allegiance from
the party on which a
person got elected (to a
legislative body) to a
different party.

P
85

clear if this step has led to greater internal

democracy in political parties.
Besides these, many suggestions are
often made to reform political parties:

Keshav - The Hindu

A law should be made to regulate

the internal affairs of political parties. It
should be made compulsory for political
parties to maintain a register of its
members, to follow its own constitution,
to have an independent authority, to act
as a judge in case of party disputes, to
hold open elections to the highest posts.

Do you agree that this form of reforming political parties will be

acceptable to them?

MP changes parties, he or she will lose

the seat in the legislature. This new law
has helped bring defection down. At the
same time this has made any dissent even
more difficult. MPs and MLAs have to
accept whatever the party leaders decide.

The Supreme Court passed an order

to reduce the influence of money and
criminals. Now, it is mandatory for every
candidate who contests elections to file
an AFFIDAVIT giving details of his property
and criminal cases pending against him.
The new system has made a lot of
information available to the public. But
there is no system of check if the
information given by the candidates is
true. As yet we do not know if it has led
to decline in the influence of the rich and
the criminals.

86

Affidavit: A signed
document submitted to
an officer, where a
person makes a sworn
statement regarding her
personal information.

The Election Commission passed an

order making it necessary for political
parties to hold their organisational
elections and file their income tax returns.
The parties have started doing so but
sometimes it is mere formality. It is not

It should be made mandatory for

political parties to give a minimum
number of tickets, about one-third, to
women candidates. Similarly, there should
be a quota for women in the decision
making bodies of the party.

There should be state funding of

elections. The government should give
parties money to support their election
expenses. This support could be given in
kind: petrol, paper, telephone etc. Or it
could be given in cash on the basis of
the votes secured by the party in the last
election.
These suggestions have not yet been
accepted by political parties. If and when
these are accepted these could lead to
some improvement. But we must be
very careful about legal solutions to
political problems. Over-regulation of
political parties can be counterproductive. This would force all parties
to find ways to cheat the law. Besides,
political parties will not agree to pass a
law that they do not like.
There are two other ways in which
political parties can be reformed. One,
people can put pressure on political
parties. This can be done through
petitions, publicity and agitations.

The quality of democracy depends on

the degree of public participation. It is
difficult to reform politics if ordinary
citizens do not take part in it and simply
criticise it from the outside. The problem
of bad politics can be solved by more
and better politics. We shall return to this
theme in the final chapter.

Ordinary citizens, pressure groups and

movements and the media can play an
important role in this. If political parties
feel that they would lose public support
by not taking up reforms, they would
become more serious about reforms.
Two, political parties can improve if
those who want this join political parties.
1.

St at e t he various funct ions polit ical part ies perform in a

dem ocr acy.

2.

What are t he various challenges faced by polit ical part ies?

3.

Suggest som e reform s t o st rengt hen part ies so t hat t hey perform
t heir funct ions well?

4.

What is a polit ical part y?

5.

What are t he charact erist ics of a polit ical part y?

6.

A group of people who com e t oget her t o cont est elect ions and
hold power in t he governm ent is called a _____________________.

7.

Mat ch List I ( organisat ions and st ruggles) wit h List I I and select
t he correct answer using t he codes given below t he list s:
List I

List I I

1.

Congr ess Par t y

A. Nat ional Dem ocrat ic

Alliance

2.

Bhar at iya Janat a Par t y

B. St at e par t y

3.

Com m unist Part y of I ndia

( Mar x ist )

C. Unit ed Progressive
Alliance

4.

Telugu Desam Part y

D. Left Front

( a)
( b)
( c)
( d)

1
C
C
C
D

2
A
D
A
C

3
B
A
D
A

4
D
B
B
B

8. Who am ong t he following is t he founder of t he Bahuj an Sam aj Part y?

A. Kanshi Ram
B. Sahu Maharaj
C. B.R. Am bedker
D. Jot iba Phule
9. What is t he guiding philosophy of t he Bharat iya Janat a Part y?
A. Bahujan Sam aj
B. Revolut ionary dem ocracy
C. I ntegral hum anism
D. Modernit y

87

10. Consider t he following st at em ent s on part ies.

A. Polit ical part ies do not enj oy m uch t rust am ong t he people.
B. Part ies are oft en rocked by scandals involving t op part y leaders.
C. Part ies are not necessary t o run governm ent s.
Which of t he st at em ent s given above are correct ?
( a) A, B, and C

( b) A and B

( c) B and C

( d) A and C

11. Read t he following passage and answer t he quest ions given below:
Muham m ad Yunus is a fam ous econom ist of Bangladesh. He
received several int ernat ional honours for his effort s t o
prom ot e econom ic and social developm ent for t he benefit of
t he poor. He and t he Gram een Bank he st art ed j oint ly,
received t he Nobel Peace Prize for t he 2006. I n February
2007, he decided t o launch a polit ical part y and cont est in t he
parliam ent ary elect ions. His obj ect ive was t o fost er proper
leadership, good governance and build a new Bangladesh. He
felt t hat only a polit ical part y different from t he t radit ional
ones would bring about new polit ical cult ure. His part y would
be dem ocrat ic from t he grassroot s level.
The launching of t he new part y, called Nagarik Shakt i
( Cit izens Power) , has caused a st ir am ong t he Bangladeshis.
While m any welcom ed his decision, som e did not like it . Now I
t hink Bangladesh will have a chance t o choose bet ween good
and bad and event ually have a good governm ent , said
Shahedul I slam , a governm ent official. That governm ent , we
hope, would not only keep it self away from corrupt ion but also
m ake fight ing corrupt ion and black m oney a t op priorit y.
But leaders of t radit ional polit ical part ies who dom inat ed
t he count rys polit ics for decades were apprehensive. There
was no debat e ( over him ) winning t he Nobel, but polit ics is
different very challenging and oft en cont roversial, said a
senior leader of t he Bangladesh Nat ionalist Part y. Som e ot hers
were highly crit ical. They asked why he was rushing int o
polit ics. I s he being plant ed in polit ics by m ent ors from
out side t he count ry, asked one polit ical observer.
Do you t hink Yunus m ade a right decision t o float a new polit ical
part y?

Do you agree wit h t he st at em ent s and fears expressed by various

people? How do you want t his new part y organised t o m ake it
different from ot her part ies? I f you were t he one t o begin t his
polit ical part y how would you defend it ?

88




qs
r
r

t r
s q
q
q
r

89

Did we reach
t hese
conclusions in
Madam Lyngdohs
class? I loved
t hat class
because
st udent s were
not being
dict at ed any
conclusions.

Do you remember how students in

Madam Lyngdohs class argued about
democracy? This was in Chapter 2 of
Class IX textbook. It emerged from that
conversation that democracy is a better
form of government when compared
with dictatorship or any other alternative.
We felt that democracy was better
because it:
Promotes equality among citizens;
Enhances the dignity of the
individual;
Improves the quality of decisionmaking;
Provides a method to resolve
conflicts; and
Allows room to correct mistakes.

90

RK Laxman - Brushing up the years

Are these expectations realised under

democracies? When we talk to people
around us, most of them support
democracy against other alternatives,
such as rule by a monarch or military or
religious leaders. But not so many of
them would be satisfied with the
democracy in practice. So we face a
dilemma: democracy is seen to be good

in principle, but felt to be not so good in

its practice. This dilemma invites us to
think hard about the outcomes of
democracy. Do we prefer democracy
only for moral reasons? Or are there
some prudential reasons to support
democracy too?
Over a hundred countries of the
world today claim and practice some
kind of democratic politics: they have
formal constitutions, they hold elections,
they have parties and they guarantee rights
of citizens. While these features are
common to most of them, these
democracies are very much different
from each other in terms of their social
situations, their economic achievements
and their cultures. Clearly, what may be
achieved or not achieved under each of
these democracies will be very different.
But is there something that we can expect
from every democracy, just because it is
democracy?
Our interest in and fascination for
democracy often pushes us into taking a
position that democracy can address all
socio-economic and political problems.
If some of our expectations are not met,
we start blaming the idea of democracy.
Or, we start doubting if we are living in
a democracy. The first step towards
thinking carefully about the outcomes
of democracy is to recognise that
democracy is just a form of government.
It can only create conditions for achieving
something. The citizens have to take
advantage of those conditions and
achieve those goals. Let us examine some
of the things we can reasonably expect
from democracy and examine the record
of democracy.

Before we go into this question, we

face another common question: Is the
democratic government efficient? Is it
effective? Some people think that
democracy produces less effective
government. It is, of course, true that
non-democratic rulers do not have to
bother about deliberation in assemblies or
worry about majorities and public opinion.
So, they can be very quick and efficient in
decision making and implementation.
Democracy is based on the idea of
deliberation and negotiation. So, some delay
is bound to take place. Does that make
democratic government inefficient?
Let us think in terms of costs.
Imagine a government that may take
decisions very fast. But it may take
decisions that are not accepted by the
people and may therefore face problems.
In contrast, the democratic government
will take more time to follow
procedures before arriving at a decision.
But because it has followed procedures,
its decisions may be both more
acceptable to the people and more
effective. So, the cost of time that
democracy pays is perhaps worth it.

Governmental Secrecy

Mike Keefe - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

There are some things that democracy

must provide. In a democracy, we are
most concerned with ensuring that
people will have the right to choose their
rulers and people will have control over
the rulers. Whenever possible and
necessary, citizens should be able to
participate in decision making, that affects
them all. Therefore, the most basic
outcome of democracy should be that
it produces a government that is
accountable to the citizens, and
responsive to the needs and expectations
of the citizens.

Now look at the other side

democracy ensures that decision making
will be based on norms and procedures.
So, a citizen who wants to know if a
decision was taken through the correct
procedures can find this out. She has the
right and the means to examine the
process of decision making. This is
known as transparency. This factor is
often missing from a non-democratic
government. Therefore, when we are
trying to find out the outcomes of
democracy, it is right to expect
democracy to produce a government
that follows procedures and is
accountable to the people. We can also
expect that the democratic government
develops mechanisms for citizens to hold
the government accountable and
mechanisms for citizens to take part in
decision making whenever they think fit.
If you wanted to measure
democracies on the basis of this
expected outcome, you would look for
the following practices and institutions:
regular, free and fair elections; open
public debate on major policies and

Can you think of what

and how the
government knows
about you and your
family (for example
ration cards and
voter identity cards)?
What are the sources
of information for you
about the
government?

91

legislations; and citizens right to

information about the government and
its functioning. The actual performance
of democracies shows a mixed record
on this. Democracies have had greater
success in setting up regular and free
elections and in setting up conditions for
open public debate. But most
democracies fall short of elections that
provide a fair chance to everyone and in
subjecting every decision to public debate.
Democratic governments do not have a
very good record when it comes to
sharing information with citizens. All one
can say in favour of democratic regimes
is that they are much better than any
non-democratic regime in these respects.

So, t he best
out com e of
dem ocracy is
t hat it is a
dem ocracy! That
is what we have
discovered aft er
all t his m ent al
gym nast ics?

In substantive terms it may be

reasonable to expect from democracy a
government that is attentive to the needs
and demands of the people and is largely
free of corruption. The record of
democracies is not impressive on these
two counts. Democracies often frustrate
the needs of the people and often ignore
the demands of a majority of its

South Asia

28

Democracy is preferred
over dictatorship
everywhere except
Pakistan

population. The routine tales of

corruption are enough to convince us that
democracy is not free of this evil. At the
same time, there is nothing to show that
non-democracies are less corrupt or
more sensitive to the people.
There is one respect in which
democratic government is certainly
better than its alternatives: democratic
government is legitimate government.
It may be slow, less efficient, not always
very responsive or clean. But a
democratic government is peoples own
government. That is why there is an
overwhelming support for the idea of
democracy all over the world. As the
accompanying evidence from South
Asia shows, the support exists in
countries with democratic regimes as
well as countries without democratic
regimes. People wish to be ruled by
representatives elected by them. They
also believe that democracy is suitable
for their country. Democracys ability
to generate its own support is itself an
outcome that cannot be ignored.

Very few doubt the suitability of democracy

for their own country
How suitable is democracy for your country?

Very suitable

Suitable

South Asia
Those who agree with one of

10

the statements

62

88

Bangladesh

93

Sri Lanka
India
Pakistan
Nepal

92
92
84
79
0

Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

Democracy is
preferable
69
Sometimes dictatorship
is better
6
Doesnt
matter to me
25

50

Those who agree with the rule of leaders elected by the people

Strongly agree

70

62

37

71

10

14

11

21

28

49

18

100

Overwhelming support for democracy

Agree

South Asia

94

Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
India
Nepal
Pakistan

98
96
95
94
81

Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007

92

50

100


If democracies are expected to produce
good governments, then is it not fair to
expect that they would also produce
development? Evidence shows that in
practice many democracies did not fulfil
this expectation.
If you consider all democracies and
all dictatorships for the fifty years between
1950 and 2000, dictatorships have slightly
higher rate of economic growth. The
inability of democracy to achieve higher
economic development worries us. But
this alone cannot be reason to reject
democracy. As you have already studied
in economics, economic development
depends on several factors: countrys
population size, global situation,

RJ Matson - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

The Rich Get Buff

cooperation from other countries,

economic priorities adopted by the
country, etc. However, the difference in
the rates of economic development
between less developed countries with
dictatorships and democracies is
negligible. Overall, we cannot say that
democracy is a guarantee of economic
development. But we can expect
democracy not to lag behind
dictatorships in this respect.
When we find such significant
difference in the rates of economic
growth between countries under
dictatorship and democracy, it is better
to prefer democracy as it has several
other positive outcomes.

Cartoon on this page

and next three pages tell
us about the disparities
between the rich and
poor. Should the gains
of economic growth be
evenly distributed? How
can the poor get a voice
for a better share in a
nation? What can the
poor countries do to
receive a greater share
in the worlds wealth?

93

Economic outcomes
ofdemocracy

Jimmy Margulies - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Argum ent s about dem ocracy t end t o Poor Kids

be very passionat e. This is how it
should be, for dem ocracy appeals t o
som e of our deep values. These
debat es cannot be resolved in a
sim ple m anner. But som e debates
about dem ocracy can and should be
resolved by referring t o som e fact s
and figures. The debat e about t he
econom ic out com es of dem ocracy is
one such debat e. Over t he years
m any st udent s of dem ocracy have
gat hered careful evidence t o see
what t he relat ionship of dem ocracy
wit h econom ic growt h and econom ic
inequalit ies is. The t ables and t he
cart oon here present som e of t he evidences:

Table 1 shows t hat on an average dict at orial regim es have had a slight ly bet t er record
of econom ic growt h. But when we com pare t heir record only in poor count ries, t here is
virt ually no difference.

Table 2 shows t hat wit hin dem ocracies t here can be very high degree of inequalit ies. I n
dem ocrat ic count ries like Sout h Africa and Brazil, t he t op 20 per cent people t ake away
m ore t han 60 per cent of t he nat ional incom e, leaving less t han 3 per cent for t he bot t om
20 per cent populat ion. Count ries like Denm ark and Hungary are m uch bet t er in t his respect .

You can see in t he cart oon, t here is oft en inequalit y of opport unit ies available t o t he
poorer sect ions.
W hat w ould be your verdict on dem ocracy if you had t o base it purely on econom ic
perform ance of dem ocrat ic regim es in t erm s of grow t h and equal dist ribut ion?

Table 2
Inequality of income in selected countries

Table 1

Rates of economic growth for different countries,

1950-2000

Type of regimes and countries

All democratic regimes
All dictatorial regimes
Poor countries under dictatorship
Poor countries under democracy

94

Growth Rate
3.95
4.42
4.34
4.28

Source: A Przeworski, M E Alvarez, J A Cheibub and F Limongi, Democracy and

Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950-1990.
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Name of the
Countries

% share of national
income
Top 20 % Bottom 20 %
South Africa
64.8
2.9
Brazil
63.0
2.6
Russia
53.7
4.4
USA
50.0
4.0
United Kingdom 45.0
6.0
Denmark
34.5
9.6
Hungary
34.4
10.0


Perhaps more than development, it is
reasonable to expect democracies to
reduce economic disparities. Even when
a country achieves economic growth, will
wealth be distributed in such a way that
all citizens of the country will have a
share and lead a better life? Is economic
growth in democracies accompanied by
increased inequalities among the people?
Or do democracies lead to a just
distribution of goods and opportunities?

Ares - Best of Latin America, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Voice of the Poor

Democracies are based on political

equality. All individuals have equal weight
in electing representatives. Parallel to the
process of bringing individuals into the
political arena on an equal footing, we
find growing economic inequalities. A
small number of ultra-rich enjoy a highly
disproportionate share of wealth and
incomes. Not only that, their share in the
total income of the country has been
increasing. Those at the bottom of the
society have very little to depend upon.
Their incomes have been declining.
Sometimes they find it difficult to meet
their basic needs of life, such as food,
clothing, house, education and health.

Dem ocracy is a
rule of t he
m aj orit y. The
poor are in
m aj orit y. So
dem ocracy m ust
be a rule of t he
poor. How can
t his not be t he
case?

In actual life, democracies do not

appear to be very successful in reducing
economic inequalities. In Class IX
Economics textbook, you have already
studied about poverty in India. The
poor constitute a large proportion
of our voters and no party will
like to lose their votes. Yet
democratically elected
governments do not
appear to be as keen to
address the question of
poverty as you would
expect them to. The
situation is much worse in
some other countries. In
Bangladesh, more than
half of its population lives
in poverty. People in
several poor countries are
now dependent on the rich
countries even for food
supplies.

95

 Manny Francisco - The Phillippines, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Worlds Wealth Owned by a Few

All you are saying

is t hat
dem ocracy
ensures t hat
people do not
break each
ot hers head.
This is not
harm ony. Should
we be happy
about it ?

96

Do democracies lead to peaceful and

harmonious life among citizens? It will
be a fair expectation that democracy
should produce a harmonious social life.
We have seen in the earlier chapters how
democracies accommodate various social
divisions. We saw in the first chapter how
Belgium has successfully negotiated
differences among ethnic populations.
Democracies usually develop a procedure
to conduct their competition. This reduces
the possibility of these tensions becoming
explosive or violent.
No society can fully and permanently
resolve conflicts among different groups.
But we can certainly learn to respect these
differences and we can also evolve
mechanisms to negotiate the differences.
Democracy is best suited to produce this
outcome. Non-democratic regimes often
turn a blind eye to or suppress internal

social differences. Ability to handle social

differences, divisions and conflicts is thus
a definite plus point of democratic
regimes. But the example of Sri Lanka
reminds us that a democracy must fulfil
two conditions in order to achieve this
outcome:

It is necessary to understand that

democracy is not simply rule by majority
opinion. The majority always needs to
work with the minority so that
governments function to represent the
general view. Majority and minority
opinions are not permanent.

It is also necessary that rule by

majority does not become rule by
majority community in terms of religion
or race or linguistic group, etc. Rule by
majority means that in case of every
decision or in case of every election,
different persons and groups may and

can form a majority. Democracy remains

democracy only as long as every citizen
has a chance of being in majority at some
point of time. If someone is barred

from being in majority on the basis of

birth, then the democratic rule ceases
to be accommodative for that person
or group.

Greeting

The two images depict two different kinds of

effects democratic politics can have on social
divisions. Take one example for each image
and write a paragraph each on the outcome
of democratic politics in both situations.

Ares - Best of Latin America, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Enemies

Democracy stands much superior to any

other for m of government in
promoting dignity and freedom of the
individual. Every individual wants to
receive respect from fellow beings.
Often conflicts arise among individuals
because some feel that they are not
treated with due respect. The passion for
respect and freedom are the basis of
democracy. Democracies throughout the
world have recognised this, at least in

principle. This has been achieved in

various degrees in various democracies.
For societies which have been built for
long on the basis of subordination and
domination, it is not a simple matter to
recognize that all individuals are equal.
Take the case of dignity of women.
Most societies across the world were
historically male dominated societies.
Long struggles by women have created
some sensitivity today that respect to and

97

I am anxious
about m y board
exam s. But
dem ocracy has
so m any exam s.
And m illions of
examiners!

equal treatment of women are necessary

ingredients of a democratic society. That
does not mean that women are actually
always treated with respect. But once the
principle is recognised, it becomes easier
for women to wage a struggle against
what is now unacceptable legally and
morally. In a non-democratic set up, this
unacceptability would not have legal basis
because the principle of individual
freedom and dignity would not have the
legal and moral force there. The same is
true of caste inequalities. Democracy in
India has strengthened the claims of the
disadvantaged and discriminated castes
for equal status and equal opportunity.
There are instances still of caste-based
inequalities and atrocities, but these lack
the moral and legal foundations. Perhaps
it is the recognition that makes ordinary
citizens value their democratic rights.
Expectations from democracy also
function as the criteria for judging any
democratic country. What is most

distinctive about democracy is that its

examination never gets over. As
democracy passes one test, it produces
another test. As people get some benefits
of democracy, they ask for more and
want to make democracy even better.
That is why when we ask people about
the way democracy functions, they will
always come up with more expectations,
and many complaints. The fact that
people are complaining is itself a
testimony to the success of democracy:
it shows that people have developed
awareness and the ability to expect and
to look critically at power holders and
the high and the mighty. A public
expression of dissatisfaction with
democracy shows the success of the
democratic project: it transforms people
from the status of a subject into that of
a citizen. Most individuals today believe
that their vote makes a difference to the
way the government is run and to their
own self-interest.

Rosa Still Inspires

Belief in the efficacy of vote is placed above the

calculus of utility

Pat Bagley - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Those who say that their vote makes a difference...

98

Bangladesh

66

India

67
75

Pakistan

50

Sri Lanka

65
0

The above cartoon and graph. Illustrates a point made in this section
(Dignity and freedom of the citizens). Underline the sentences from
this section which connect to the cartoon or graph.

65

Nepal

South Asia

Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South

Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007.

80

1.

How does dem ocracy produce an account able, responsive and

legit im at e governm ent ?

2.

What are t he condit ions under which dem ocracies accom m odat e
social diver sit ies?

3 . Give argum ent s t o support or oppose t he following assert ions:

4.

I dent ify t he challenges t o dem ocracy in t he following descript ions.

Also suggest policy/ inst it ut ional m echanism t o deepen dem ocracy
in t he given sit uat ions:

5.

I ndust rialised count ries can afford dem ocracy but t he poor
need dict at orship t o becom e rich.
Dem ocracy cant reduce inequalit y of incom es bet ween
different cit izens.
Governm ent in poor count ries should spend less on povert y
reduct ion, healt h, educat ion and spend m ore on indust ries and
infrast ruct ure.
I n dem ocracy all cit izens have one vot e, which m eans t hat
t here is absence of any dom inat ion and conflict .

Following a High Court direct ive a t em ple in Orissa t hat had

separat e ent ry doors for dalit s and non- dalit s allowed ent ry
for all from t he sam e door.
A large num ber of farm ers are com m it t ing suicide in different
st at es of I ndia.
Following allegat ion of killing of t hree civilians in Gandwara in a
fake encount er by Jam m u and Kashm ir police, an enquiry has
been ordered.

I n t he cont ext of dem ocracies, which of t he following ideas is

correct dem ocracies have successfully elim inat ed:

A. conflict s am ong people

B. econom ic inequalit ies am ong people
C. differences of opinion about how m arginalised sect ions
are t o be t reat ed
D. t he idea of polit ical inequalit y
6.

I n t he cont ext of assessing dem ocracy which am ong t he following

is odd one out . Dem ocracies need t o ensure:

A.
B.
C.
D.
7.

free and fair elect ions

dignit y of t he individual
m aj ority rule
equal t reat m ent before law

St udies on polit ical and social inequalit ies in dem ocracy show t hat

A.
B.
C.
D.

dem ocracy and developm ent go t oget her.

inequalit ies exist in dem ocracies .
inequalit ies do not exist under dict at orship.
dict at orship is bet t er t han dem ocracy.

99

8.

Read t he passage below:

Nannu is a daily wage earner. He lives in Welcom e Mazdoor
Colony, a slum habit at ion in East Delhi. He lost his rat ion
card and applied for a duplicat e one in January 2004. He
m ade several rounds t o t he local Food & Civil Supplies office
for t he next t hree m ont hs. But t he clerks and officials would
not even look at him , leave alone do his j ob or bot her t o t ell
him t he st at us of his applicat ion. Ult im at ely, he filed an
applicat ion under t he Right t o I nform at ion Act asking for t he
daily progress m ade on his applicat ion, nam es of t he
officials, who were supposed t o act on his applicat ion and
what act ion would be t aken against t hese officials for t heir
inact ion. Wit hin a week of filing applicat ion under t he Right t o
I nform at ion Act , he was visit ed by an inspect or from t he
Food Depart m ent , who inform ed him t hat t he card had been
m ade and he could collect it from t he office. When Nannu
went t o collect his card next day, he was given a very warm
t reat m ent by t he Food & Supply Officer ( FSO) , who is t he
head of a Circle. The FSO offered him t ea and request ed him
t o wit hdraw his applicat ion under t he Right t o I nform at ion,
since his work had already been done.
What does Nannus exam ple show? What im pact did Nannus
act ion have on officials? Ask your parent s t heir experiences
when t hey approach governm ent officials t o at t end t o t heir
problem s.

100








q
q

t
q

101


Do you remember the first chapter of your Political
Science textbook of Class IX? There we tracked the
expansion of democracy all over the world in the last
hundred years. Our reading thereafter has confirmed
our initial impression: democracy is the dominant form
of government in the contemporary world. It does
not face a serious challenger or rival. Yet our exploration
of the various dimensions of democratic politics has
shown us something else as well. The promise of
democracy is far from realised anywhere in the world.
Democracy does not have a challenger, but that does
not mean that it does not face any challenges.
At different points in this tour of democracy, we
have noted the serious challenges that democracy faces
all over the world. A challenge is not just any problem.
We usually call only those difficulties a challenge which
are significant and which can be overcome. A challenge
is a difficulty that carries within it an opportunity for
progress. Once we overcome a challenge we go up to
a higher level than before.
Different countries face different kinds of
challenges. Can you recall the map of democratic
governments in the year 2000 that was included in your
textbook? At least one fourth of the globe is still not
under democratic government. The challenge for
democracy in these parts of the world is very stark.

102

These countries face the foundational challenge of

making the transition to democracy and then instituting
democratic government. This involves bringing down
the existing non-democratic regime, keeping military
away from controlling government and establishing a
sovereign and functional state.
Most of the established democracies face the
challenge of expansion. This involves applying the
basic principle of democratic government across all
the regions, different social groups and various
institutions. Ensuring greater power to local
governments, extension of federal principle to all the
units of the federation, inclusion of women and
minority groups, etc., falls under this challenge. This
also means that less and less decisions should remain
outside the arena of democratic control. Most
countries including India and other democracies like
the US face this challenge.
The third challenge of deepening of democracy
is faced by every democracy in one form or another.
This involves strengthening of the institutions and
practices of democracy. This should happen in such a
way that people can realise their expectations of
democracy. But ordinary people have different
expectations from democracy in different societies.
Therefore, this challenge takes different meanings and
paths in different parts of the world. In general terms,
it usually means strengthening those institutions
that help peoples participation and control.
This requires an attempt to bring down the
control and influence of the rich and
powerful people in making governmental
decision.
We have noted or hinted at these
challenges in all the various examples and
stories that we studied in our textbook of
Class IX and in the earlier chapters of this
book. Let us go back to all the major stops
in our tour of democracy, refresh our
memory and note down the challenges
that democracy faces in each of these.

Each of these cartoons represents a challenge to democracy. Please describe what that challenge is. Also place it
in one of the three categories mentioned in the first section.
Seeing the democracy

Liberal Gender Equality

Campaign Money

Ares - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Ares - Best Latin America, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Tab - The Calgary Sun, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Patrick Chappatte - Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Mubarak Re-elected

103

Ca se a n d con t e x t

Your de scr ipt ion of t he cha lle nge s for de m ocr a cy in t ha t

sit uat ion

Chile : General Pinochet s [ Exam ple] Est ablishing civilian cont rol over all governm ent al
governm ent defeat ed, but inst it ut ions, holding t he first m ult i- part y elect ions, recalling all
m ilit ary st ill in cont rol of
polit ical leaders from exile.
m any inst it ut ions
Pola n d: Aft er t he first
success of Solidarit y, t he
governm ent im posed
m art ial law and banned
solidarity
Gh a n a : Just at t ained
independence, Nkrum ah
elect ed president
M ya nm a r: Suu Kyi under
house arrest for m ore t han
15 years, arm y rulers
get t ing global accept ance
I nternational
organisat ions:
US as t he only super
power disregards t he UN
and t akes unilat eral act ion
M e x ico: Second free
elect ion aft er t he defeat
of PRI in 2000; defeat ed
candidat e alleges rigging
China: Com m unist Part y
adopt s econom ic reform s
but m aint ains m onopoly
over polit ical power
Pakistan: General
Musharraf holds
referendum , allegat ions
of fraud in vot ers list
I raq: Widespread
sect arian violence as t he
new governm ent fails t o
est ablish it s aut horit y

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Sout h Africa: Mandela

ret ires from act ive polit ics,
pressure on his successor
Mbeki t o wit hdraw som e
concessions given t o
Whit e m inorit y

Ca se a n d con t e x t

Your de scr ipt ion of t he cha lle nge s for de m ocr a cy in t ha t

sit uat ion

US, Gua nt a na m o Ba y:
UN Secret ary General
calls t his a violat ion of
int ernat ional law,
US refused t o respond
Sa udi Ar a bia : Wom en not
allowed t o t ake part in
public act ivit ies,
no freedom of religion for
m inorities
Yugosla via : Et hnic
t ension bet ween Serbs
and Albanians on t he rise
in t he province of Kosovo.
Yugoslavia disint ergrat ed
Be lgium : One round of
const it ut ional change
t aken place, but t he Dut ch
speakers not sat isfied;
t hey want m ore aut onom y
Sri Lanka: The peace talks
bet ween t he governm ent
and t he LTTE break
down, renewed violence
US, Civil Right s: Blacks
have won equal right s, but
are st ill poor, less
educat ed and m arginalised
N ort hern I reland: The
civil war has ended but
Cat holics and Prot est ant s
yet t o develop t rust

N e pa l: Const it uent
Assem bly about t o be
elect ed, unrest in
Terai areas, Maoist s have
not surrendered arm s

Bolivia : Morales, a
supporter of water struggle,
becom es Prim e Minist er,
MNCs t hreat en t o leave
t he count ry

105


Now that you have noted down all these challenges, let us group these together into some broad categories.
Given below are some spheres or sites of democratic politics. You may place against each of these the specific
challenges that you noted for one or more countries or cartoons in the previous section. In addition to that write
one item for India for each of these spheres. In case you find that some challenges do not fit into any of the
categories given below, you can create new categories and put some items under that.

Const it ut ional
design

Dem ocrat ic
rights

Working of
inst it ut ions

Elect ions

Federalism ,
decent ralisat ion

Accom m odation
of diversit y

Polit ical
organisat ions

Any other category

Any other category

106

Let us group these again, this time by the nature of these challenges as per the classification suggested in the first
section. For each of these categories, find at least one example from India as well.
Foundat ional
challenge

Challenge of
expansion

Challenge of
deepening

Now let us think only about India. Think of all the challenges that democracy faces in contemporary India. List
those five that should be addressed first of all. The listing should be in order of priority, i.e, the challenge you
find most important or pressing should be mentioned at number 1, and so on. Give one example of that
challenge and your reasons for assigning it the priority.
Priority Challenges t o
dem ocracy

Example

Reasons for preference

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

107


Each of these challenges is linked to the possibility
of reforms. As mentioned above, we discuss
challenges only because we think these can be
overcome. Generally all the suggestions or proposals
about overcoming various challenges to democracy
are called democracy reform or political reform.
We are not going to give here a list of desirable
political reforms, for there cannot be any such list. If
all the countries do not have the same challenges, it
follows that everyone cannot follow the same recipe
of political reforms. We cannot prescribe a procedure
for car repair without knowing which model the car
is, what the defect is and what tools are available,
where the car has broken down, etc.
Can we at least have a list of such reforms for our
country in todays context? We can develop some
proposals for reforms at the national level. But the
real challenge of reforms may not lie at the national
level. Some of the crucial questions need to be thought
at the State or local level. Besides, such a list may
become irrelevant after some time. So, instead of that
let us think of some broad guidelines that can be kept
in mind while devising ways and means for political
reforms in India:

It is very tempting to think of legal ways of

reforming politics, to think of new laws to ban
undesirable things. But this temptation needs to be
resisted. No doubt, law has an important role to play
in political reform. Carefully devised changes in law
can help to discourage wrong political practices and
encourage good ones. But legal-constitutional changes
by themselves cannot overcome challenges to
democracy. This is like the rules of cricket. A change
in rules for LBW decisions helped to reduce negative
batting tactics. But no one would ever think that the
quality of cricket could be improved mainly through
changes in the rules. This is to be done mainly by the
players, coaches and administrators. Similarly,
democratic reforms are to be carried out mainly by

108

political activists, parties, movements and politically

conscious citizens.

Any legal change must carefully look at what results

it will have on politics. Sometimes the results may be
counter-productive. For example, many states have
banned people who have more than two children
from contesting panchayat elections. This has resulted
in denial of democratic opportunity to many poor
and women, which was not intended. Generally, laws
that seek to ban something are not very successful in
politics. Laws that give political actors incentives to do
good things have more chances of working. The best
laws are those which empower people to carry out
democratic reforms. The Right to Information Act is
a good example of a law that empowers the people
to find out what is happening in government and act
as watchdogs of democracy. Such a law helps to
control corruption and supplements the existing laws
that banned corruption and imposed strict penalties.

Democratic reforms are to be brought about

principally through political practice. Therefore, the
main focus of political reforms should be on ways to
strengthen democratic practice. As we discussed in the
chapter on political parties, the most important concern
should be to increase and improve the quality of
political participation by ordinary citizens.

Any proposal for political reforms should think not

only about what is a good solution but also about who
will implement it and how. It is not very wise to think
that the legislatures will pass legislations that go against
the interest of all the political parties and MPs. But
measures that rely on democratic movements, citizens
organisations and the media are likely to succeed.
Let us keep these general guidelines in mind and
look at some specific instances of challenges to
democracy that require some measure of reform. Let
us try to come up with some concrete proposals of
reform.

Here are some challenges that require political reforms. Discuss these challenges in detail study the reform
options offered here and give your preferred solution with reasons. Remember that none of the options
offered here is right or wrong. You can opt for a mix of more than one options, or come up with something
that is not offered here. But you must give your solution in details and offer reasons for your choice.
Doctors absenteeism
Challenge:

Political funding
Challenge:

Uttar Pradesh government got a survey done and

found out that most of the doctors posted in the rural
primary health centres are simply not there. They live
in a town, carry out private practice and visit the village
where they are posted only once or twice in the entire
month. Villagers have to travel to towns and pay very
high fee to private doctors even for common ailments.

On an average, every candidate who contested the

last Lok Sabha elections owned a property of more
than Rs one crore. There is a fear that only wealthy
people or those with their support can afford to
fight elections. Most of the political parties are
dependent on money given by big business houses.
The worry is that the role of money in politics will
reduce whatever little voice the poor have in our
democracy.

Reform proposals:

The government should make it compulsory

for the doctors to live in the village where they are
posted, otherwise their service should be terminated.

District administration and police should carry

out surprise raids to check the attendance of the
doctors.

Village panchayat should be given the power to

write the annual report of the doctor which should
be read out in the gram sabha meeting.

Problems like this can be solved only if Uttar

Pradesh is split into several smaller states which can
be administered more efficiently.

Reform proposals:
The financial accounts of every political party
should be made public. These accounts should be
examined by government auditors.
There should be state funding of elections.
Parties should be given some money by the
government to meet their election expenditure.

Citizens should be encouraged to give more

donations to parties and to political workers.
Such donations should be exempt from income
tax.

Any other problem of your choice

Challenge:

Reform proposals:

109

Refo r ing
Reforming
p
o l i ns Rose m anaged t o cat ch Madam Lyngdoh out side t he
politicians
pol
classroom ,
som et hing she had been
planning t o do for som e t im e. Maam ! I
really liked t hat Canadian cart oon. Rose
needed som et hing t o open t he
conversat ion. Which one? Madam
Lyngdoh could not recall. Maam , t he one
which says 98% Canadians want all t he
polit icians t o be locked in t he t runk of a
car and t hrown int o Niagara falls. I was
t hinking of our polit icians. We would need a
bigger vehicle and a river as m ight y as
Brahm aputra!
Lyngdoh Maam sm iled at Rose. Like m ost
I ndians, she is also very m uch unhappy
wit h t he way polit icians of t he count ry have been behaving and running t he part ies and
governm ent s. But she want ed Rose t o appreciat e t he com plexit y of t he problem : Do you
t hink our problem s will be solved if we get rid of our polit icians?, she asked.
Yes, Maam . Arent t hese m ean polit icians responsible for all t he problem s in our count ry?
I m ean corrupt ion, defect ion, cast eism , com m unal violence, crim inalit y everyt hing.
Lyngdoh Madam : So, all we need is t o get rid of t he current lot . Are you sure t hat t hose
who replace t hem will not do t hese t hings?
Rose: Well, I had not t hought of it , but m ay be not . May be we will get leaders of bet t er
charact er .
Lyngdoh Madam : I agree wit h you t hat t he sit uat ion will change if people show m ore care
and alert ness t o rej ect corrupt and bad polit icians and elect t he right ones. And, m aybe,
all polit icians are not corrupt
How can you say t hat Maam int errupt ed Rose.
Lyngdoh Madam : I did not say t hat polit icians are not corrupt . Maybe when you t hink of
polit icians you t hink of t hese big people whose phot os appear in newspapers. I t hink of
polit ical leaders t hat I have known. I dont t hink t hat t he polit ical leaders I know are m ore
corrupt t han m y own colleagues, governm ent officials, cont ract ors or ot her m iddle class
professionals t hat I know. The corrupt ion of t he polit ician is m ore visible and we get t he
im pression t hat all polit icians are corrupt . Som e of t hem are and som e of t hem are not .
Rose did not give up. Maam , what I m eant is t hat t here should be st rict laws t o curb
corrupt ion and wrong pract ices like appeals t o cast e and com m unit y.

Lyngdoh Madam : I am not sure Rose. For one t hing t here is already a law banning any
appeal t o cast e and religion in polit ics. Polit icians find a way t o bypass t hat . Laws can
have lit t le im pact unless people resist at t em pt s t o m islead and divide people in t he nam e
of cast e and religion. You cannot have dem ocracy in a real sense unless people and
polit icians overcom e t he barriers of cast e and religion.

110


We began this tour of democracy last year with a
minimal definition of democracy. Do you remember
that? This is what Chapter 2 of your textbook said last
year: democracy is a form of government in which
the rulers are elected by the people. We then looked at
many cases and expanded the definition slightly to add
some qualifications:

the rulers elected by the people must take all the

major decisions;

elections must offer a choice and fair opportunity

to the people to change the current rulers;

this choice and opportunity should be available to

all the people on an equal basis; and

the exercise of this choice must lead to a

government limited by basic rules of the constitution
and citizens rights.

You may have felt disappointed that the definition

did not refer to any high ideals that we associate with
democracy. But in operational terms, we deliberately
started with a minimalist but clear definition of
democracy. It allowed us to make a clear distinction
between democratic and non-democratic regimes.

Our discussion of democracy has gone beyond

the government and its activities. We discussed how
eliminating discrimination based on caste, religion and
gender is important in a democracy.

Finally, we have had some discussion about some

outcomes that one can expect from a democracy.
In doing so, we have not gone against the definition
of democracy offered last year. We began then with a
definition of what is the minimum a country must
have to be called a democracy. In the course of our
discussion we moved to the set of desirable conditions
that a democracy should have. We have moved from
the definition of democracy to the description of a
good democracy.
How do we define a good democracy? What are
its features? Which are the features a democracy must
have to be called a good democracy? And what must
not take place in a democracy if it is a good democracy?
You decide that.
Reading between the Lines

We discussed democratic rights at length and noted

that these rights are not limited to the right to vote,
stand in elections and form political organisations. We
discussed some social and economic rights that a
democracy should offer to its citizens.

We have taken up power sharing as the spirit of

democracy and discussed how power sharing between
governments and social groups is necessary in
a democracy.

We saw how democracy cannot be the brute rule

of majority and how a respect for minority voice is
necessary for democracy.

Ares - Best Latin America, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

You may have noticed that in the course of our

discussions of various aspects of democratic
government and politics, we have gone beyond that
definition:

111

Here is your space for writing your own definition of good democracy.

( Write your nam e here) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ s definit ion of good

de m ocr a cy ( not m ore t han 50 words) :

Fe a t u r e s ( use only as m any point s as you want . Try t o com press it in as few point s as
possible)
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

How did you like this exercise? Was it enjoyable? Very demanding? A little frustrating? And a little scary? Are
you a little resentful that the textbook did not help you in this crucial task? Are you worried that your definition
may not be correct?

Here then is your last lesson in thinking about democracy: there is no fixed definition of good democracy.
A good democracy is what we think it is and what we wish to make it. This may sound strange. Yet, think of it:
is it democratic for someone to dictate to us what a good democracy is?

112